assignment tracking him down. I'll turn it
over to Bronston."

The Avalon agent nodded again, and looked at Ronny.

Ronny said urgently, "We haven't the time to give you details, but every
indication is that Paine is on a UP spacecraft with Avalon as its
destination. There are only ten men aboard, and six of them are Section G
operatives."

The other pursed his lips. "I see. You think you have the old fox
cornered, eh?"

"Possibly," Ronny said. "There are various ifs. Miss Tog and I can double
check here. Then as soon as we can clear exit visas, we'll make immediate
way for Avalon."

The Avalon Section G agent said, "I haven't the authority to control the
movements of other agents, they have as high rank as I have," he added,
expressionlessly, "and probably higher than yours."

Ronny said, "But the four-man crew?"

The other said, "These men are coming to Avalon to work on a job that will
take at least six months. We'll make a routine check, and I'll try and
make sure the whole ten will still be on Avalon when and if you arrive."

They had to be satisfied with that. They checked all ways from the middle,
nor did it take long. There was no doubt. If this was a Tommy Paine job,
and it almost surely was, then there was only one way in which he could
have escaped from the planet and that was by the single spacecraft that
had left, destination Avalon. He was not on the planet, that was definite
Ronny felt. A stranger on New Delos was as conspicuous as a walrus in a
goldfish bowl. There simply were no such.

They spent most of their time checking and rechecking United Planets
personnel, but there was no question there either.

Mouley Hassan and others of UP personnel helped cut the red tape involved
in getting exit visas from New Delos. It wasn't as complicated as it might
have been a week or two before. No one seemed to be so confident of his
authority in the new provisional government that he dared veto a United
Planets request.

Mouley Hassan was able to arrange for a small space yacht, slower than a
military craft, but capable of getting them to Avalon in a few days time.
A one-man crew was sufficient, Ronny, and especially Tog, could spell him
on the watches.

Time aboard was spent largely in studying up on Avalon, going over and
over again anything known about the elusive Tommy Paine, and playing
Battle Chess and bickering with Tog Lee Chang Chu.

If it hadn't been for this ability to argue against just