I
can see why you wanted to get in touch with Scholar Rawlings, certainly!
Do you really think there's something in this idea?"

"I do," said Turnbull firmly. "Will it be possible for me to send a
message to him?"

"Certainly," Drawford said quickly. "I'll see that he gets it as soon as
possible. What did you wish to say?"

Turnbull reached into his belt pouch, pulled out a pad and stylus, and
began to write.

_I have reason to believe that I have solved the connection between the
two sources of data concerned in the Centaurus City problem. I would
also like to discuss the Duckworth theory with you._

When he had finished, he signed his name at the bottom and handed it to
Drawford.

Drawford looked at it, frowned, and looked up at Turnbull questioningly.

"He'll know what I mean," Turnbull said. "Scholar Duckworth had an idea
that Lobon was a data source on the problem even before we did our
digging there. Frankly, that's why I thought Duckworth might be working
with Scholar Rawlings."

Drawford's face cleared. "Very well. I'll put this on the company
transmitters immediately, Dr. Turnbull. And--don't worry, I won't say
anything about this to anyone until Scholar Rawlings or you, yourself,
give me the go-ahead."

"I'd certainly appreciate that," Turnbull said, rising from his seat.
"I'll leave you to your work now, Dr. Drawford. I can be reached at the
Mayfair Hotel."

The two men shook hands, and Turnbull left quickly.

* * * * *

Turnbull felt intuitively that he knew where Rawlings was. On the
Centaurus planet--the planet of the City. But where was Duckworth?
Reason said that he, too, was at the City, but under what circumstances?
Was he a prisoner? Had he been killed outright?

Surely not. That didn't jibe with his leaving Earth the way he had. If
someone had wanted him killed, they'd have done it on Earth; they
wouldn't have left a trail to Sirius IV that anyone who was interested
could have followed.

On the other hand, how could they account for Duckworth's disappearance,
since the trail _was_ so broad? If the police--

No. He was wrong. The trouble with intuitive thinking is that it tends
to leave out whole sections of what, to a logical thinker, are pieces of
absolutely necessary data.

Duckworth actually had no connection with Rawlings--no _logical_
connection. The only thing the police would have to work with was the
fact that Scholar Duckworth had started