ny great bureaucracy. Had
Section G been set up a century or so ago and then forgotten by those who
had originally thought there was a need for it? In the same way that it is
usually more difficult to get a statute off the lawbooks than it was
originally to pass it, in the same manner eliminating an office, with its
employees can prove more difficult than originally establishing it.

But that wasn't it. In spite of the informality, the unconventional
brashness of its personnel on all levels, and the seeming chaos in which
its tasks were done, Section G was no make-work project set up to provide
juicy jobs for the relatives of high ranking officials. To the contrary,
it didn't take long in the Section before anybody with open eyes could see
that Ross Metaxa was privy to the decisions made by the upper echelons of
UP.

Ronny Bronston came to the conclusion that the appointment he'd received
was putting him in a higher bracket of the UP hierarchy than he'd at first
imagined.

His indoctrination course was a strain such as he'd never known in school
years. Ross Metaxa was evidently of the opinion that a man could
assimilate concentrated information at a rate several times faster than
any professional educator ever dreamed possible. No threats were made, but
Ronny realized that he could be dropped even more quickly than he'd seemed
to have been taken on. There were no classes, to either push or retard the
rate of study. He worked with a series of tutors, and pushed himself. The
tutors were almost invariably Section G agents, temporarily in Greater
Washington between assignments, or for briefing on this phase or that of
their work.

Even as he studied, Ronny Bronston kept the eventual assignment, at which
he was to prove himself, in mind. He made a point of inquiring of each
agent he met, about Tommy Paine.

The name was known to all, but no two reacted in the same manner. Several
of them even brushed the whole matter aside as pure legend. _Nobody_ could
accomplish all the trouble that Tommy Paine had supposedly stirred up.

To one of these, Ronny said plaintively, "See here, the Old Man believes
in him, Sid Jakes believes in him. My final appointment depends on
arresting him. How can I ever secure this job, if I'm chasing a myth?"

The other shrugged. "Don't ask me. I've got my own problems. O.K., now,
let's run over this question of Napoleonic law. There are at least two
hundred planets that base their legal system o