maybe one of the
services. It doesn't matter, really, I suppose. Now, what about me?"

He reached out and tapped his glass with a fingertip. "That about you,
doll. You filled it. I'm drinking it. I may not think quite as fast as
you do, but I still think. Would I take a drink from a somewhat
lawless and very clever lady who really believed I had her lined up
for Rehabilitation? Or who'd be at all likely to blab out something
that would ruin an old pal's reputation?"

Reetal ran her fingers through his hair again. "I noticed the deal
with the drink," she said. "I guess I just wanted to hear you say it.
You don't tell on me, I don't tell on you. Is that it?"

"That's it," Quillan said. "What Ryter and Orca want to tell the Feds
doesn't matter. It stops there, the Feds will have the word on me
before they arrive. By the way, did you go wake up the Kinmartens
yet?"

"Not yet," Reetal said. "Too busy getting the office help soothed down
and back to work."

"Well, lets finish these drinks and go do that, then. The little
doll's almost bound to be asleep by now, but she might still be
sitting there biting nervously at her pretty knuckles."

* * * * *

Major Hesler Quillan of Space Scout Intelligence, was looking unhappy.
"We're still searching for them everywhere," he explained to Klayung,
"but it's a virtual certainty that the Hlat got them shortly before it
was trapped."

Klayung, a stringy, white-haired old gentleman, was an operator of the
Psychology Service, in charge of the shipment of Hlats the _Camelot_
had brought in. He and Quillan were waiting in the vestibule of the
Seventh Star's rest cubicle vaults for Lady Pendrake's cubicle to be
brought over from the Executive Block.

Klayung said reflectively, "Couldn't the criminals with who you were
dealing here have hidden the couple away somewhere?"

Quillan shook his head. "There's no way they could have located them
so quickly. I made half a dozen portal switches when I was taking
Kinmarten to the suite. It would take something with a Hlat's
abilities to follow me over that route and stay undetected. And it
must be an unusually cunning animal to decide to stay out of sight
until I'd led it where it wanted to go."

"Oh, they're intelligent enough," Klayung agreed absently. "Their
average basic I.Q. is probably higher than that of human beings. A
somewhat different type of mentality, of course. Well, when the
cubicle arrives,