stay at Interplanetary Building.
None of the hotels are safe, not even the Ritz-Gartner. And be sure
everybody's well armed when they come off the ship."

Jacquemont nodded. "I know the drill; I've been in Port Oberth on
Venus and Skorvann on Loki. Any law we want, we make for ourselves."

"That's about it. I'll see you there. Conn, I wish you'd come with me.
Somebody here wants to talk to you."

He wondered if his mother, or Flora, had come to Storisende. When he
asked his father as they crossed onto the dock, there was a brief
twinge of pain in Rodney Maxwell's face.

"No, they're not having anything to do--_Duck; quick!_"

Then his father was diving under a lifter-truck that stood empty on
the dock. The private police were scattering for cover, and an
auto-cannon began pom-pomming. Conn took one quick look in the
direction in which it was firing, saw an aircar that had broken
through the police line and was rushing toward them, and dived under
the lifter after his father. As he did, he saw a missile flash out
from one of the gunboats like a thrown knife. Then he huddled beside
his father and put his arms over his head.

He felt the heat and shock of the explosion and, an instant later,
heard the roar. When nothing immediately disastrous happened after he
had counted fifteen seconds, he stuck his head out and looked up. The
gunboat was struggling to regain her equilibrium, and the aircar had
vanished in a fireball. They both emerged, straightening. His father
was brushing himself with his hands and saying something about always
having to duck under something when he had a new suit on.

"Robot control, probably; could have been launched from anywhere in
town. Why, no; your mother and Flora aren't speaking to either of us,
any more. Pity, of course, but I'm glad they're in Litchfield. It's a
little healthier there."

They walked to the slim recon-car and climbed in, pulling the door
shut after them. Wade Lucas was waiting for them at the controls.

"There, you see!" he began, as soon as he had the car lifting. "What
I've been telling you. We'll have to stop this."

"Conn, meet our new partner. I told him everything you told me, out on
the Mall, the day you came home. I had to," his father hastened to
add. "He'd figured most of it out for himself. The only thing to do
was admit him to the lodge and give him the oath."

"I didn't know about General Travis; I didn't even know he was still
alive," Lucas said. "