ke to have a moment as soon as possible, sir,"
his secretary informed him even before he sat down. "Senator Morgan has
been here all day, you know, and he insists on seeing you personally."

"Oh, that kind, eh? All right, I'll see him. Get Fairchild, please ...
Dick? Can you talk, or is he there listening?"

"No, he's heckling Saunders at the moment. He's been here long enough.
Can you take a minute and throw him out?"

"Of course, if you say so, but why not throw the hooks into him
yourself, as usual?"

"He wants to lay down the law to you, personally. He's a Big Shot, you
know, and his group is kicking up quite a row, so it might be better to
have it come straight from the top. Besides, you've got a unique
knack--when you throw a harpoon, the harpoonee doesn't forget it."

"All right. He's the uplifter and leveler-off. Down with Triplanetary, up
with National Sovereignty. We're power-mad dictators--iron-heel-on-the
necks-of-the-people, and so on. But what's he like, personally?
Thick-skinned, of course--got a brain?"

"Rhinoceros. He's got a brain, but it's definitely weaseloid. Bear
down--sink it in full length, and then twist it."

"O.K. You've got a harpoon, of course?"

"Three of 'em!" Fairchild, Head of Triplanetary's Public Relations,
grinned with relish. "Boss Jim Towne owns him in fee simple. The number
of his hot lock box is N469T414. His subbest sub-rosa girl-friend is
Fi-Chi le Bay ... yes, everything that the name implies. She got a
super-deluxe fur coat--Martian tekkyl, no less--out of that Mackenzie
River power deal. Triple play, you might say--Clander to Morgan to le
Bay."

"Nice. Bring him in."

"Senator Morgan, Mr. Samms," Fairchild made the introduction and the two
men sized each other up in lightning glances. Samms saw a big man,
florid, somewhat inclined toward corpulence, with the surface
geniality--and the shrewd calculating eyes--of the successful
politician. The senator saw a tall, hard-trained man in his forties; a
lean, keen, smooth-shaven face; a shock of red-bronze-auburn hair a
couple of weeks overdue for a cutting; a pair of gold-flecked tawny eyes
too penetrant for comfort.

"I trust, Senator, that Fairchild has taken care of you satisfactorily?"

"With one or two exceptions, yes." Since Samms did not ask what the
exceptions could be, Morgan was forced to continue. "I am here, as you
know, in my official capacity as Chairman of the Pernicious Activities
Committee of the No