er outworlders, neither
Irwadian nor Earthmen, laughed nervously.

Ramsey wiped his eyes but otherwise did not move. He was in a rough spot
and he knew it. The fact that their new Security Chief went out drunk at
night with a chip on his shoulder was the Irwadian government's affair,
not Ramsey's. He'd been insulted before. An Earthman in the outworlds,
particularly an Earthman fugitive who knew he dared not get into the
kind of trouble that could bring the Earth consul to investigate, was
used to insults. For Earth was the leading economic and military power
of the galaxy, and the fact that Earth really tried to deal fairly with
its galactic neighbors meant nothing. Earth, being top dog, was
resented.

The thing which got Ramsey, though, was this Garr Symm. He had never
heard of Garr Symm, and he thought he knew most of the big shots in the
Irwadian Security Police by name. But there must have been a reason for
his appointment. A government throwing off outworld influence had a
reason for everything. So, why Garr Symm?

* * * * *

"You, Mith Vegan!" Garr Symm called suddenly. "You whithpered to the
Earthman. What did you tell him?"

"Not to look for trouble," the Vegan girl said in a frightened voice.

"But what elth?"

"Honest, that's all."

"Come here, pleath."

Her blue skin all at once very pale, the Vegan girl walked back toward
Garr Symm. He leered at her quite drunkenly and took hold of her slender
arm. "What did you tell him? For the latht time."

The girl whimpered: "You are hurting my arm."

Thoughts raced through Ramsey's mind. As an administrator, as an
Irwadian public servant in a touchy job, Garr Symm, a drunkard, was
obviously grossly incompetent. What other qualifications did he have
which gave him the top Irwadian Security job? Ramsey didn't know. He
sighed. The Vegan girl's mouth formed a rictus of pain. Ramsey had a
hunch he was going to find out.

He said curtly: "Let go of her, Symm. She told me nothing that would
interest you."

* * * * *

Garr Symm ignored him. The blue-skinned girl cried.

Ramsey grimaced and hit Garr Symm in the belly as hard as he could.

Symm thudded back against the table. It overturned with a crash and the
Security Chief crashed down on top of it. There wasn't a sound in the
gambling hall except Ramsey's sudden hard breathing, the Vegan girl's
sniffling, and Garr Symm's noisy attempts to get