ave acted earlier?" Quillan asked.

Mihul considered. "She would have been very annoyed with Commissioner
Tate," she said. "I don't blame her for that--I'd be, too, in the
circumstances. When he got back, she'd have wanted a reasonable
explanation for what has been going on. If she didn't get one that
satisfied her, she'd have quit. But she _would_ have waited till he got
back. Why not, after all?"

"You don't think she's going to wait now?"

"I do not," Mihul said. "She's forwarded him a kind of ultimatum through
Plemponi. Communicate-or-else, in effect. Frankly, I wouldn't care to
guarantee she'll stay around to hear the answer."

"Hm.... What do you expect she'll do?"

"Take off," Mihul said. "One way or the other."

"Ungh," Quillan said disgustedly. "You make it sound like the chick's
got built-in space drives. You can stop her, can't you?"

"Certainly I can stop her," Mihul said. "If I can lock her in her room
and sit on her to make sure she doesn't leave by the window. But
'unobtrusively?' You're the one who stressed she isn't to know she's
being watched."

"True," Quillan said promptly. "I spoke like a loon, Mihul."

"True, Major Quillan, sir," said Mihul. "Now try again."

The transmitter was silent a few seconds. "Could you guarantee her for
three days?" he asked.

"I could not," said Mihul. "I couldn't guarantee her another three
hours."

"As bad as that?"

"Yes," said Mihul. "As bad as that. She was controlling herself with
Plemponi. But I've been observing her in the physical workouts. I've fed
it to her as heavy as I could, but there's a limit to what you can do
that way. She's kept herself in very good shape."

"One of the best, I've been told," said Quillan.

"Condition, I meant," said Mihul. "Anyway, she's trained down fine right
now. Any more of it would just make her edgier. You know how it goes."

"Uh-huh," he said. "Fighter nerves."

"Same deal," Mihul agreed.

There was a short pause. "How about slapping a guard on all Colonial
school exits?" he suggested.

"Can you send me an army?"

"No."

"Then forget it. She was a student here, remember? Last year a bunch of
our students smuggled the stuffed restructured mastodon out and left it
in the back garden of the mayor of Ceyce, just for laughs. Too many
exits. And Trigger was a trickier monkey than most that way, when she
felt like it. She'll fade out of here whenever she wants to."

"It's those damn tube portal systems!" sa