"I'll be drummed out of the Guild
for this."

"If you ever get within shouting distance of Outer Port again, which
you won't."

Mike doubled his fists. "To stand flatfooted and let a boarder move in
and take my pile--and my client. How much of an idiot can a man be!"

Doree came up the ladder, her eyes wide with fright. "Did you find
him?"

"No--and don't start crying. Why didn't you tell me about these men?
Why didn't you give me a chance to protect my ship?"

"We--we didn't know they'd follow us. We--I didn't dream they had any
idea of--"

"They followed you. And they had the idea. They took our pile and
shoved us off on a blind orbit. They arranged for us to die out here."

"Won't we--we be found?"

"A million to one shot in these spaces."

"More than that," Nicko said. "A billion to one. It's empty out here,
lady."

Mike saw that Doree was again about to burst into tears. He took her
by the arm. "We're going to the lounge and you're going to tell me all
about this--what's been going on." He drew her toward the ladder,
calling over his shoulder. "Clean up what you can, Nicko. See what
other deviltry they arranged."

In the lounge, Mike sat Doree firmly into a chair. "Now let's not have
any tears. Just tell it the way it happened."

* * * * *

Doree had got control of herself. She sat straight, miserable, a
little pathetic, Mike thought. She said, "Lorn McKee and Dean Talbott
were Paris art collectors. Their reputations were not of the best but
when they approached father he listened to them.

"They had a strange looking scroll made of papyrus. It had writing on
it in an ancient script and they wanted father to translate it for
them."

"Would that have made it more valuable?"

"Of course. At first father was suspicious, thinking it was some kind
of a hoax. They told him the scroll had come from an Egyptian tomb but
would tell him no more relative to its origination. They brought it to
him because he was Terra's foremost authority in that field.

"Father discovered immediately that the scroll was genuine and very
old. Papyrus was a material the ancient Egyptians used."

"And--?" Mike asked impatiently.

"He refused to translate it for them because they in turn would not
tell him what they proposed to do with it. He felt it should be turned
over to the proper authorities--some university--and besides, he was
suspicious of the two men. So they went away and tried t