at came in last night."

The plainclothesman dithered.

"How's he going to get to the spaceport?"

"I wouldn't know," said the servant. "They've figured out some way. I
could use a little extra money, too."

He lingered, but the plainclothesman was staring at the innocent,
inviolable parcels about to leave the Embassy for distant parts. He took
note of sizes and descriptions. No. Not yet. But if Hoddan was leaving
he had to leave the Embassy. If he left the Embassy....

* * * * *

The plainclothesman bolted. He made a breathless report by the portable
communicator set up for just such use. He told what the Embassy servant
had said, and the inference to be drawn from it, the suspicions to be
entertained--and there he stopped short. Orders came back to him. Orders
were given in all directions. Somebody was going to distinguish himself
by catching Hoddan, and undercover politics worked to decide who it
should be. Even the job of guard outside the Embassy became desirable.
So fresh, alert plainclothesmen arrived. They were bright-eyed and
bushy-tailed, and they took over. Weary, hungry men yielded up their
posts. They went home. The man who'd gotten the infallibly certain clue
went home too, disgruntled because he wasn't allowed a share in the
credit for Hoddan's capture. But he was glad of it later.

Inside the Embassy, Hoddan finished his breakfast with the ambassador.

"I'm giving you," said the ambassador, "that letter to the character on
Darth. I told you about him. He's some sort of nobleman and has need of
an electronic engineer. On Darth they're rare to nonexistent. But his
letter wasn't too specific."

"I remember," agreed Hoddan. "I'll look him up. Thanks."

"Somehow," said the ambassador, "I cherish unreasonable hopes of you,
Hoddan. A psychologist would say that your group identification is low
and your cyclothymia practically a minus quantity, while your ergic
tension is pleasingly high. He'd mean that with reasonable good fortune
you will raise more hell than most. I wish you that good fortune. And
Hoddan--"

"Yes?"

"I don't urge you to be vengeful," explained the ambassador, "but I do
hope you won't be too forgiving of these characters who'd have jailed
you for life. You've scared them badly. It's very good for them.
Anything more you can do in that line will be really a kindness, and as
such will positively not be appreciated, but it'll be well worth
doing.... I