nner of public
servants phone girls, was staring wide-eyed.

"Just a moment, Councilman Salgath; I'll put you through to Chief
Tortha."

* * * * *

The dinner lacked a half hour of being served; Thalvan Dras' guests
loitered about the drawing room, sampling appetizers and chilled
drinks and chatting in groups. It wasn't the artistic crowd usual at
Thalvan Dras' dinners; most of the guests seemed to be business or
political people. Thalvan Dras had gotten Vall and Dalla into the
small group around him, along with pudgy, infantile-faced Brogoth
Zaln, his confidential secretary, and Javrath Brend, his financial
attorney.

"I don't see why they're making such a fuss about it," one of the
Banking Cartel people was saying. "Causing a lot of public excitement
all out of proportion to the importance of the affair. After all,
those people were slaves on their own time line, and if anything,
they're much better off on the Esaron Sector than they would be as
captives of the Croutha. As far as that goes, what's the difference
between that and the way we drag these Fourth Level Primitive
Sector-Complex people off to Fifth Level Service Sector to work for
us?"

"Oh, there's a big difference, Farn," Javrath Brend said. "We recruit
those Fourth Level Primitives out of probability worlds of Stone Age
savagery, and transpose them to our own Fifth Level time lines,
practically outtime extensions of the Home Time Line. There's
absolutely no question of the Paratime Secret being compromised."

[Illustration:]

"Beside, we need a certain amount of human labor, for tasks requiring
original thought and decision that are beyond the ability of robots,
and most of it is work our Citizens simply wouldn't perform," Thalvan
Dras added.

"Well, from a moral standpoint, wouldn't these Esaron Sector people
who buy the slaves justify slavery in the same terms?" a woman whom
Vall had identified as a Left Moderate Council Member asked.

"There's still a big difference," Dalla told her. "The ServSec Proles
aren't beaten or tortured or chained; we don't break up families or
separate friends. When we recruit Fourth Level Primitives, we take
whole tribes, and they come willingly. And--"

One of Thalvan Dras' black-liveried human servants, of the class under
discussion, approached Vall.

"A visiphone call for your lordship," he whispered. "Chief Tortha Karf
calling. If your lordship will come this way--"

In a s