ungodly lot of money. You can hide a lot of buildingarmaments and such-even without putting it underground. But
you can’t hide big flows of money from experts who know how to look. So if you don’t think I’m nuts, we’ll
message the Head tonight to check the growth curves of all the planets for the last seventy years and put the best
CPA’s he’s got onto the top five or six.”
She looked at him admiringly. “I’m for it; strong. And then we go to Gastonia, or wherever?”
“No. Then we go to Earth.”
She looked puzzled for a moment, then her face cleared. “I see. It would have to be a Grand Duke, at that, to get an
agent into-and especially out of-the Head’s own office … and the brains would almost have to be on Earth. You are
smart, Julie; maybe we’re getting somewhere, after all.”
The ship docked and the two, after killing half an hourthey expected real trouble, and preparations were being made
to handle it-made their way to the middle-class dive that was the favorite hangout of the lower offices and the
highest crewmen of whatever subspacers happened to be in port. That was all they had-the name of the dive and a
cryptic recognition signal bought for them by nitrobarb at the cost of a man’s life. But it was enough.
Since the latest ship to come to ground was DesPlainian, the six bouncer-guards of the place-it was a somewhat
unusual fact that all six of them were DesPlainiansthought nothing of it when half a dozen leather-clad DesPlainian
spacemen came bouncing in, shouting for strong drink and friendly girls.
How could the guards have suspected anything? Or the brains, either, since the d’Alemberts had pitched them such a
nice curve? There was no evidence that the Velasquez pair had anything to do with what had happened on Algonia.
And if they had had, what were they skyshooting off into the middle of nowhere for?
The renegade Puritans came in-it was quite evident that they were renegades, since no Puritan in good standing
would ever enter a bar-and looked unconcernedly around. Since it was early in the afternoon” only one bartender
was at work and only a few waitresses and B girls were on hand. The two strolled up to the bar and Jules said, “I was
told to ask for the Blinding Flash and say the Deafening Report sent me.”
The entire room exploded. The six guards tried, but before any of them could get his blaster half into action he was
struck by over an eighth of a ton of the hardest meat be had ever felt. In the same instant Jules put his left arm
around the bartender’s throat and, with the blaster now in his right hand, drilled a half-inch hole through the PBX
operator’s head. He then whistled sharply at the terrified girls and waved his weapon at a corner; into which they
and the few noncombatant customers were very glad indeed to run.
In the meantime Yvette had dived at the PBX board. She snatched the single earphone off the man’s head, put it on
her own, let the body fall and sat at the board.
In two minutes the place was a shambles. When a five-hundred-pound pair of DesPlainian freestyle brawlers strikes
furniture it is the furniture that breaks, not the men. Two tables and half-a-dozen chairs remained intact; one
savagely warring pair had gone straight through the heavy yellow-wood bar.
And Jules, standing at ease with his blaster hanging at the loose, studied with keen appreciation the battles going
on. He was not worried about the outcome. Only one result was possible. The guards were good, but they were not
d’Alembert-and those six d’Alemberts were the pick of the hardest-trained troupe of no-holds-barred fighting wres-
tlers known to man.
In three and one-half minutes the place was practically a total loss” but the battle was over. The six survivors
sported a few eyes that would soon be black, some contusions and abrasions, and several cuts, tears, scratches,
gouges and bites that were bleeding more or less freely, but there had been no real damage at all.
“Nice work, fellows; thanks,” Jules said, as the sixth spaceman came to his feet, grinning hugely. “Drink up. There’ll
be at least some ginger ale left in whole bottles-I think. And break out some champagne for the cuties. I wouldn’t
know whether they’re still in the mood for fun and games or not, but at least we’ll do the gentlemanly thing about
the drinks. “Now” barkeep my friend-” he lifted that wight one-handedly over the bar” set him on his feet and put
both big hands uncomfortably tight around his throat–“Do you want to tell me all about all the gizmos between
here and the boss upstairs or do I wring your neck exactly like a chicken’s?”
“I’ll tell, I’ll tell!” the man squawked. “Don’t wring my neck-please don’tl It’s all on the board there-really it is-the
whole works !”
“He isn’t lying, Julie,” Yvette said. “There’s a whole row of special red indicators that doesn’t belong on a standard
PBX. It looks like the boss rings down and they set the traps from the board here.”
“That’s it, that’s itl” the man babbled. “There are blacklight beams across the halls up there, set to trigger blasters
and stunners. The boss calls down and the man on the boards sets up whatever he orders.”
“Okay. What’s his door like-wood or steel? Locked? And how about guards up there?”
“Wood. Not locked. No guards-no trouble ever gets to where he is” sir. He would’ve set ’em, of courses–” nodding
his head at the dead man beside the PBX-“but you blasted ‘im too quick.”
“Okay. Lead the way. That’s so in case of trouble you’ll get it first from me, if necessary.”
Nothing happened until they reached the Boss’s door. The bartender knocked-no code, Jules noticed. A voice from
inside the room called “Come in,” and the pilot opened the door and led the way into the office. The man behind the
desk was alone in the room. He gasped once, turned pale and reached for a row of buttons; but stopped the motion
halfway as Jules’ blaster came to bear.
“Go ahead, push ’em,” Jules said, but the boss, except for twitching muscles, made no move whatever as Jules gave
the bartender a tap on the jaw, taking a hypodermic kit out of his pocket, went up to the desk. The man’s eyes
widened in panic fear.
“Not that-please not nitrobarb!” he pleaded, desperately. “I’m allergic to the stuff-it’ll kill me sure, my doctor says.”
“What makes you think this is nitrobarb? It could be plain distilled water!”
“Don’t mace me, mister! I think I probably know what you want . . . and you don’t need to give me anythingl I’ll tell
you everything I know without it, honestly I will!”
And he did, and once again the d’Alemberts listened to the secrets of a traitors’ nest. And it was, as Jules bad
expected it to be, a clear, straight lead to one man in one city of the planet Durward.
“Okay,” Jules said, finally. “I won’t kill you this time. Just tell your boss on Durward I’m coming; loaded to the gills
with stuff he never even beard of.”
Then the eight d’Alemberts went back to their ship; where Jules and Yvette spent all the rest of the day and almost
all of the night in the control room” the most secure spot they could find, composing and encoding a long message
to the Head.
When it was done, Jules rose” stretched and walked over to the galactic chart. His eyes brooding, he set it for
maximum span and turned on the activating circuits. As the great wispy star-clouds of the galactic lens took form,
each surveyed star positioned with minute accuracy, he keyed the index locators for Durward, the planet to which
all their hard-earned information pointed so surely, and for old Earth. Quickly the taped data spools whined and
spun and printed out course and the dizzying distance in parsecs between the two planets. He said slowly, “All the
signs say Durward is where the action is . . .”
“I know, Julie,” said his sister, covering a yawn. “So, of course we go to Earth. Well, what are we waiting for?”
All explored space was divided into 36 wedge-shaped sectors; the line common to all sectors being the line
through the center of Sol perpendicular to the plane of the Earth’s orbit. Each sector was owned, subject only
to the Throne, by a Grand Duke. Earth, by far the most important planet, did not belong to any sector, but was
the private property of the Throne. Each Grand Duke had a palace, several residences and a Hall of State on
Earth. Because of these facts the nobility of Earth were far more powerful than their titles indicated. The