allowed again. The test hadn't really seemed extensive enough
to him. But, after all, the Tr'en knew their business, better than
anyone else could know it. They had the technique and the logic and
the training.

He hoped they were right.

The Ruler was frowning at him. Korvin did his best to look receptive.
"Why did you land your ship on this planet?" the Ruler said.

"My job required it," Korvin said.

The Ruler nodded. "Your job is to crash your ship," he said. "It is
wasteful but the machines tell me it is true. Very well, then; we
shall find out more about your job. Was the crash intentional?"

Korvin looked sober. "Yes," he said.

The Ruler blinked. "Very well," he said. "Was your job ended when the
ship crashed?" The Tr'en word, of course, wasn't _ended_, nor did it
mean exactly that. As nearly as Korvin could make out, it meant
"disposed of for all time."

"No," he said.

"What else does your job entail?" the Ruler said.

Korvin decided to throw his first spoke into the wheel. "Staying
alive."

The Ruler roared. "Do not waste time with the obvious!" he shouted.
"Do not try to trick us; we are a logical and scientific race! Answer
correctly."

"I have told the truth," Korvin said.

"But it is not--not the truth we want," the Ruler said.

Korvin shrugged. "I replied to your question," he said. "I did not
know that there was more than one kind of truth. Surely the truth is
the truth, just as the Ruler is the Ruler?"

"I--" The Ruler stopped himself in mid-roar. "You try to confuse the
Ruler," he said at last, in an approximation of his usual one. "But
the Ruler will not be confused. We have experts in matters of
logic"--the Tr'en word seemed to mean _right-saying_--"who will advise
the Ruler. They will be called."

Korvin's guards were standing around doing nothing of importance now
that their captor was strapped down in the lie-detector. The Ruler
gestured and they went out the door in a hurry.

The Ruler looked down at Korvin. "You will find that you cannot trick
us," he said. "You will find that such fiddling"--_chulad-like_ Korvin
translated--"attempts will get you nowhere."

Korvin devoutly hoped so.

* * * * *

The experts in logic arrived shortly, and in no uncertain terms Korvin
was given to understand that logical paradox was not going to confuse
anybody on the planet. The barber who did, or didn't, shave himself,
the secretary of the club whose membe