that's probable. He could
even be an undercover agent for the Federation, though that seems a
little improbable. He's been here too long. Hah! He could be almost
anything except what Rayson thought." He looked up.

"Well, don't let him go. Keep him out of circulation. In fact, you
better have him put in tight confinement. We'll look into him more
closely later. Right now, I want to know what became of that Waern
boy."

The aide pointed at the papers on the desk. "The boy and his father are
reported to have left their residence, your honor. It is thought they
went with that same Donald Michaels who interfered with the original
plan."

Stern nodded. "The boy Rayson had right in his hands, and then let go.
Yes." He looked around the room, then got to his feet.

"Tell me, has any progress been made on locating the Waern 'Book of
Ancestors'?"

"No, your honor. Records has located and destroyed the last of the
evidence here in Oreladar. But the Waern copy has not yet been
located."

Stern nodded. "Find out who is responsible for the long delay in
discovering the Waern claim, Lander. That is inexcusable." He frowned.

"Now, to the Waernu. Did anyone see them leave their home?"

The aide shook his head. "Observers say Michaels' flier landed in the
Waern courtyard. A few minutes later, it took off and headed toward the
mountains. The observers were unable to determine how many people were
in the flier when it departed. It left too abruptly and traveled too
fast. They determined its direction, but were unable to follow it."

"Valuable men! I think we should take careful note of all those people
up at Riandar. Possibly they should be reassigned to duties more suited
to their abilities. Tell me, did anyone have the elementary
intelligence to have this flier tracked?"

"They tried, your honor. But it disappeared in the canyons, flying very
low. Search fliers have been operating for several hours, but no trace
of it has been found."

Stern nodded. "Well, we won't discuss it any further," he decided. "You
know my feelings on the Riandar people. I should say it would be safe
to assume the Waernu are holed up in Michaels' home. Get the exact
location of that place. Then set up an Enforcement Corps operation." He
frowned.

"Get some men out to make sure those people don't go into the hill
country before we can take care of them. You can use the search planes
for that. Then attend to your advance publicity and set up elim