't you just borrow psychists from SecReg for Kholghoor,
Eastern India?" Vall asked. "Subchief Ranthar would have loaned you a
few."

"Oh, I couldn't call on another SecReg for men without higher-echelon
authorization. Especially not from another Sector Organization, even
another Level Authority," Vulthor Tharn said. "Beside, it would have
taken longer to bring them here than hypno-mech our own personnel."

He was right about the second point. Vall agreed mentally; however,
his real reason was procedural.

"Did you alert Ranthar Jard to what was going on in his SecReg?" he
asked.

"Gracious, no!" Vulthor Tharn was scandalized. "I have no authority to
tell people of equal echelon in other Sector and Level organizations
what to do. I put my report through regular channels; it wasn't my
place to go outside my own jurisdiction."

And his report had crawled through channels for fourteen hours, Vall
thought.

"Well, on my authority, and in the name of Chief Tortha, you message
Ranthar Jard at once; send him every scrap of information you have on
the subject, and forward additional information as it comes in to
you. I doubt he'll find anything on any time-line that's being
exploited by any legitimate paratimers. This gang probably work
exclusively on unpenetrated time-lines; this business Skordran Kirv
came across was a bad blunder on some underling's part." He saw Dalla
emerge from the control tower in breeches and boots and a white cloak,
buckling on a heavy revolver. "I'll go change, now; you get busy
calling Ranthar Jard. I'll see you when I get back."

* * * * *

"Are you taking over, Chief's Assistant?" Skordran Kirv asked, as the
aircar lifted from the landing stage.

"Not at all. My wife and I are starting on our vacation, as soon as I
find out what's been happening here, and report to Chief Tortha. Did
your native troopers catch those slavers?"

"Yes, they got them yesterday afternoon; we've had them ever since. Do
you want the whole thing just as it happened, Assistant Verkan, or
just a condensation?"

"Give me what you think it indicates, remembering that you're probably
trying to analyze a large situation from a very small sample."

"It's big, all right," Skordran Kirv said. "This gang can't number
less than a hundred men, maybe several hundred. They must have at
least two two-hundred-foot conveyers and several small ones, and bases
on what sounds like some Fifth Level