competent surgeon
willing to risk police retaliation. But only those who had installed
this complicated circuit would know how to take it out.

* * * * *

Burlingame didn't answer. It was probably useless trying to trace
him--he very likely had arranged to drop out of sight. He was good at
that. The police hadn't caught up with him in twenty years.

There was Cobber. He'd be elsewhere, setting up a rendezvous to which
Burlingame and the rest could return and hide while their faces and
figures were absorbed into their normal bodies. Cobber would be even
tougher to locate.

The only place Burlingame could be found with any degree of certainty,
Jadiver reasoned, would be at the scene of the robbery. Jadiver went to
the screen and spent an intensive half hour in front of it. At the end
of that time, he had narrowed it down to two society events, one of
which would occur in a few hours. He made a decision to cover it and
warn them, if he could. After that, it was up to Burlingame.

Jadiver rubbed his chin; the stubble had to come off. He went to the
autobath, but it wouldn't open. A figure in bas-relief appeared on the
door. The surface had been smooth an instant before.

"Sorry," said the voice of the lifelike, semi-nude girl, "the autobath
is out of certain supplies. It won't function properly until these are
replaced."

"Let's have the list," growled Jadiver. He was jumpy.

The bas-relief figure extended a hand with a slip in it. "If I may
suggest, these can be placed on perpetual order to avoid future
inconvenience."

What the future held was unknown. It wasn't likely to include a
comfortable existence in a well-furnished apartment. "I'll think about
it," he grunted.

"If there's any other way I can help you--"

"There isn't," said Jadiver.

The door shivered and the figure snapped back into the memory plastic
from which it was made. The surface was smooth again.

* * * * *

He went to the screen and punched a code. The counter display flashed on
and then was replaced by a handsome neuter face. That face studied him,
ascertained his maximum susceptibility, and promptly faded.

The next face was that of a robot harem girl. Sex sells, that was always
the axiom. "Is there anything I can do for you?" she asked huskily.

"Yes," said Jadiver. "You can get off the screen and let me see some
merchandise."

"We're not allowed to do that."

Jadi