o do it, Bron," he said agitatedly. "I couldn't help doing it!"

Hoddan blinked at him. He was dazed. Things didn't become clearer when
he saw that a cop had slit open his pillow and was sifting its contents
through his fingers. Another cop was ripping the seams of his mattress
to look inside. Somebody else was going carefully through a little pile
of notes that Nedda had written, squinting at them as if he were afraid
of seeing something he'd wish he hadn't.

"What's happened?" asked Hoddan blankly. "What's this about?"

Derec said miserably:

"You killed someone, Bron. An innocent man! You didn't mean to, but you
did, and ... it's terrible!"

"Me kill somebody? That's ridiculous!" protested Hoddan.

"They found him outside the powerhouse," said Derec bitterly. "Outside
the Mid-Continent station that you--"

"Mid-Continent? Oh!" Hoddan was relieved. It was amazing how much he was
relieved. He'd had an unbelieving fear for a moment that somebody might
have found out he'd been born and raised on Zan--which would have ruined
everything. It was almost impossible to imagine, but still it was a
great relief to find out he was only suspected of a murder he hadn't
committed. And he was only suspected because his first great achievement
as an electronic engineer had been discovered. "They found the thing at
Mid-Continent, eh? But I didn't kill anybody. And there's no harm done.
The thing's been running two weeks, now. I was going to the Power Board
in a couple of days." He addressed the police. "I know what's up, now,"
he said. "Give me some clothes and let's go get this straightened out."

A cop waved a stun-pistol at him.

"One word out of line, and--_pfft!_"

"Don't talk, Bron!" said Derec in panic. "Just keep quiet! It's bad
enough! Don't make it worse!"

A cop handed Hoddan a garment. He put it on. He became aware that the
cop was scared. So was Derec. Everybody in the room was scared except
himself. Hoddan found himself incredulous. People didn't act this way on
super-civilized, highest-peak-of-culture Walden.

"Who'd I kill?" he demanded. "And why?"

"You wouldn't know him, Bron," said Derec mournfully. "You didn't mean
to do murder. But it's only luck that you killed only him instead of
everybody!"

"Everybody--" Hoddan stared.

"No more talk!" snapped the nearest cop. His teeth were chattering.
"Keep quiet or else!"

Hoddan shut up. He watched--dressing the while as his clothing was
inspected and th