onent--an industrialist who had spoken out against Kanus--was
actually killed in the dueling machine. The man is dead!"

V

One of the advantages of being Commander-in-Chief of the Star Watch,
the old man thought to himself, is that you can visit any planet is
the Commonwealth.

He stood at the top of the hill and looked out over the green table
land of Kenya. This was the land of his birth, Earth was his
homeworld. The Star Watch's official headquarters may be in the heart
of a globular cluster of stars near the center of the galaxy, but
Earth was the place the commander wanted most to see as he grew older
and wearier.

An aide, who had been following the commander at a respectful
distance, suddenly intruded himself in the old man's reverie.

"Sir, a message for you."

The commander scowled at the young officer. "I gave orders that I was
not to be disturbed."

The officer, slim and stiff in his black-and-silver uniform, replied.
"Your chief of staff has passed the message on to you, sir. It's from
Dr. Leoh, of Carinae University. Personal and urgent, sir."

The old man grumbled to himself, but nodded. The aide placed a small
crystalline sphere on the grass before him. The air above the sphere
started to vibrate and glow.

"Sir Harold Spencer here," the commander said.

The bubbling air seemed to draw in on itself and take solid form. Dr.
Leoh sat at a desk chair and looked up at the standing commander.

"Harold, it's a pleasure to see you once again."

Spencer's stern eyes softened, and his beefy face broke into a
well-creased smile. "Albert, you ancient scoundrel. What do you mean
by interrupting my first visit home in fifteen years?"

"It won't be a long interruption," Leoh said.

"You told my chief of staff that it was urgent," Sir Harold groused.

"It is. But it's not the sort of problem that requires much action on
your part. Yet. You are familiar with recent political developments on
the Kerak Worlds?"

Spencer snorted. "I know that a barbarian named Kanus has established
himself as a dictator. He's a troublemaker. I've been talking to the
Commonwealth Council about the advisability of quashing him before he
causes grief, but you know the Council ... first wait until the flames
have sprung up, then thrash about and demand that the Star Watch do
something!"

Leoh grinned. "You're as irascible as ever."

"My personality is not the subject of this rather expensive
discussion. What about Kan