ailable, and we can't afford to be choosy.
The Inner Region doesn't mean a thing to us. Know
what I mean?"

"Sure."

The clerk repeated his grin-scowl, snickered, and
slapped Hodak on the shoulder.

"What's the word on living accommodations under
the dome?" Adari cut in.

"Gotta register for permanent quarters, and you'll
need a permit to build a place of your own. They're
almost impossible to get. Try for 'temporary' until
you know your way around. Good place to start is
the Condor over on Con-man Slash."

"How do we get there?" Kumiko asked.

"Taxi to dome air lock 22," he replied. "Inside,
take the second transit strip. The off-ramps are
Smuggler's Alley, Faithhealer's Spread, Plunder
Cove, Bunco Crawl, and then Con-Man Slash.
It's in the center of town; you can't miss it."
He waved them toward the air lock. "On your way,
folks; you're cleared."

He watched them suit up and enter the air lock.
When he heard the whisper of the outer door, he
lifted a comm device, pressed buttons and spoke
hurriedly.

Chapter EIGHT

Clearing the outer door, Zolan leaned against the
buffer, tightened his bootstrap with one gloved
hand, the other pressed against the wall to steady
himself. Seconds later, he pulled away, shook his
leg to settle the boot for comfort, and caught up
with Brad.

Grasping Brad's elbow activated the secure to-suit
circuit. Myra, Hodak, Adari and Kumiko crowded
in close and energized a camouflaging mix of
artificial jive and loud laughs on the nature of
the terrain, the location of the Transit Strip, the
tank town's appearance in the distance, whatever
served as a barrier to electronic penetration.

"The clerk passed the word about us," Zolan said.
"Gave full descriptions and said to notify someone
called 'Scarf'. By the way, he did a lot more than
check our weapons while we stood at the counter.
We were scanned down to our bones. He's sending
the file to his control, including the main portal's
lock combination on the Raven. He'll have a lifter
ready for someone who's to arrive soon. Looks
like they're going to search the ship."

"Fine," Brad nodded. "Nothing there to cause
us a problem. Pass the word as we move along.
No changes in plans until some contacts develop.
Then we'll regroup and go on from there."

Boarding a robo-taxi that had just discharged
suited figures at a nearby mooring tower, the
Sentinels lined up along the taxi's portal. Zolan
consulted a placard o