y rivalry for oil fields. But now that the
Europo-Americans have begun to release nuclear energy, fissionables have
become more important than oil. In less than a century, it's predicted
that atomic energy will replace all other forms of power. Mineral
Products Syndicate wanted to get a good source of supply for uranium,
and your Proto-Aryan Sector franchise was worth grabbing.

"I had considered something like this as a possibility when Stranor,
here, mentioned that tularemia was normally unknown in Eurasia on this
sector. That epidemic must have been started by imported germs. And I
knew that Mineral Products has agents at the court of the Chuldun
emperor, Chombrog: they have to, to protect their oil wells on his
eastern frontiers. I spent most of last night checking up on some
stuff by video-transcription from the Paratime Commission's microfilm
library at Dhergabar. I found out, for one thing, that while there is
a King Kurchuk of Zurb on every time-line for a hundred para-years on
either side of this one, this is the only time-line on which he
married a Princess Darith of Chuldun, and it's the only time-line on
which there is any trace of a Chuldun scribe named Labdurg.

"That's why I went to all the trouble of having that Yat-Zar plated
with collapsed nickel. If there were disguised paratimers among the
Muz-Azin party at Kurchuk's court, I expected one of them to try to
blast our idol when we brought it into the palace. I was watching
Ghromdur and Labdurg in particular; as soon as Ghromdur used his
blaster, I needled him. After that, it was easy."

"Was that why you insisted on sending that automatic viewer on
ahead?"

"Yes. There was a chance that they might have planted a bomb in the
House of Yat-Zar, here. I knew they'd either do that or let the place
entirely alone. I suppose they were so confident of getting away with
this that they didn't want to damage the conveyer or the conveyer
chamber. They expected to use them, themselves, after they took over
your company's franchise."

"Well, what's going to be done about it by the Commission?" Brannad
Klav wanted to know.

"Plenty. The syndicate will probably lose their paratime license; any
of its officials who had guilty knowledge of this will be dealt with
according to law. You know, this was a pretty nasty business."

"You're telling me!" Stranor Sleth exclaimed. "Did you get a look at
those whips they were going to use on our people? Pointed iron barbs