* *

The pearl-gray sportscar, covered now by its streamlining canopy,
drifted down presently to a parking platform outside the suite of
offices on Jontarou's Planetary Moderator, on the fourteenth floor of
the Shikaris' Club Tower. An attendant waved it on into a vacant slot.

Inside the car, Delquos set the brakes, switched off the engine,
asked, "Now what?"

"I think," Telzey said reflectively, "we'd better lock you in the
trunk compartment with my aunt and Dr. Droon while I talk to the
Moderator."

The chauffeur shrugged. He'd regained most of his aplomb during the
unhurried trip across the parklands. Iron Thoughts had done nothing
but sit in the center of the car, eyes half shut, looking like instant
death enjoying a dignified nap and occasionally emitting a ripsawing
noise which might have been either his style of purring or a snore.
And Tick-Tock, when Delquos peeled the paralysis belts off her legs at
Telzey's direction, had greeted him with her usual reserved
affability. What the chauffeur was suffering from at the moment was
intense curiosity, which Telzey had done nothing to relieve.

"Just as you say, Miss Telzey," he agreed. "I hate to miss whatever
you're going to be doing here, but if you _don't_ lock me up now, Miss
Halet will figure I was helping you and fire me as soon as you let her
out."

Telzey nodded, then cocked her head in the direction of the rear
compartment. Faint sounds coming through the door indicated that Halet
had regained consciousness and was having hysterics.

"You might tell her," Telzey suggested, "that there'll be a grown-up
crest cat sitting outside the compartment door." This wasn't true, but
neither Delquos nor Halet could know it. "If there's too much racket
before I get back, it's likely to irritate him...."

A minute later, she set both car doors on lock and went outside,
wishing she were less informally clothed. Sunbriefs and sandals tended
to make her look juvenile.

* * * * *

The parking attendant appeared startled when she approached him with
Tick-Tock striding alongside.

"They'll never let you into the offices with that thing, miss," he
informed her. "Why, it doesn't even have a collar!"

"Don't worry about it." Telzey told him aloofly.

She dropped a two-credit piece she'd taken from Halet's purse into his
hand, and continued on towards the building entrance. The attendant
squinted after her, trying unsuccessfu