g sloppy," he said.
"I don't know. It's one possibility. They used to be a rather sharp
outfit, you know."

"That's what I'd heard!" Velladon chewed savagely on his mustache,
asked finally, "What's another possibility?"

Quillan leaned back in his chair. "Just a feeling, so far. But the
business with the cubicle upstairs might have angles that weren't
mentioned."

They looked at him thoughtfully. Ryter said, "Mind amplifying that?"

"Cooms told me," Quillan said, "that Nome Lancion had given Movaine
instructions to make a test with Lady Pendrake on the quiet and find
out if those creatures actually can do what they're supposed to do. I
think he was telling the truth. Nome tends to be overcautious when
it's a really big deal. Unless he's sure of the Hlats, he wouldn't
want to be involved in a thing like blowing up the Star and the
liner."

The commodore scowled absently. "Uh-huh," he said. "He knows we can't
back out of it--"

"All right. The Brotherhood's full of ambitious men. Behind Lancion,
Movaine was top man. Cooms behind him; Fluel behind Cooms. Suppose
that Hlat-control device Cooms is hanging on to so tightly isn't as
entirely incomprehensible as they make it out to be. Suppose Cooms
makes a deal with Eltak. Eltak tickles the gadget, and the Hlat kills
Movaine. Rubero immediately guns down Eltak--and is killed by Fluel a
couple of minutes later, supposedly for blowing his top and killing
the man who knew how to control the Hlat."

Ryter cleared his throat. "Fluel was Movaine's gun," he observed.

"So he was," Quillan said. "Would you like the Duke to be yours?"

Ryter grinned, shook his head. "No, thanks!"

Quillan looked back at Velladon. "How well are you actually covered
against the Brotherhood?"

"Well, _that_'s air-tight," the commodore said. "We've got 'em
outgunned here. When the liner lands, we'll be about even. But Lancion
won't start anything. We're too even. Once we're clear of the Star, we
don't meet again. We deal with Yaco individually. The Brotherhood has
the Hlats, and we have the trained Federation technicians accompanying
them, who ... who--"

"Who alone are supposed to be able to inform Yaco how to control the
Hlats," Ryter finished for him. The security chief's face was
expressionless.

"By God!" the commodore said softly.

"Well, it's only a possibility that somebody's playing dirty," Quillan
remarked. "We'd want to be sure of it. But if anyone can handle a Hlat
with the