ling Thane had when he came out of the Stoltz shock was
lightness. He raised his right arm as he came back to consciousness,
and he noticed that the effort required was less than he had
expected. He opened his eyes, and they gradually came back into
focus. He was lying on a cot in a dimly lit room. The light, he saw,
came from a small window across the room. With an unfamiliarly light
tread, Thane stepped over to the window. The pane was double,
transparent metal. It took only one glance at the bleak, wintry
landscape outside to explain the feeling of lightness. It could only
be the landscape of Onzar II, whose gravity was about 80% that of
Kadell IV.

Someone obviously had reason to cart him, unconscious, across a few
light years. Apparently, the duel had not been what it seemed. But
how? And why? Quite possibly the Third Officer was an agent of
Onzarian counter-espionage. If so, what had happened to Astrid? How
had Pyuf and the others been taken care of? On the other hand, it was
quite possible that Astrid was behind it. He remembered how she seemed
to have been talking to the Third just before the challenge. But for
what motive? Thane smiled to himself. The speculation was interesting,
but a little barren till more data turned up.

It was not long in coming. Thane had begun to explore the room
carefully when a door opened. It was Pyuf, armed. "You'll come with
me, please." No longer the half drunk duelling attendant, Pyuf was now
quite sober and quite serious.

Thane went. There were questions to be answered.

He had somehow expected a long corridor with many doors. Instead, he
walked directly into a brightly lighted room, filled with a great deal
of equipment. He recognized the latest model lie-detector, a rather
outdated narco-synthesizer, a Class B Psychocomputer. Much of the rest
was unfamiliar.

There were two Onzarians in the room. Both, in contrast to Pyuf, who
was dark and shorter than the average, had typical Onzar
features--yellow eyes with a slight slant, and golden skin. Pyuf
gestured towards Thane. "Give him the whole routine. We want to know
everything you can get. Then let us know."

Thane, of course, had been prepared for this sort of thing. He'd spent
time in Medico-Synthesis after every major job to immunize him against
interrogation. He'd had three separate, integrated pasts built up, all
quite fictional, which could be used during interrogation. He was
protected, at a certain level, agains