ok at him. "Why would your
partner want to hypnotize you?"

"I don't know," Dasinger said. "He hasn't admitted that he intended to
do it."

"Is he a criminal?"

"I wouldn't say he isn't," Dasinger observed judiciously, "but I
couldn't prove it."

Duomart puckered her lips, staring at him thoughtfully. "What about
yourself?" she asked.

"No, Miss Mines, I have a very high regard for the law. I'm a simple
businessman."

"A simple businessman who flies his own cruiser four weeks out from the
Hub into I-Fleet territory?"

"That's the kind of business I'm in," Dasinger explained. "I own a
charter ship company."

"I see," she said. "Well, you two make an odd pair of partners...."

"I suppose we do. Incidentally, has there been any occasion when you and
Dr. Egavine--or you and Dr. Egavine and his servant--were alone
somewhere in the ship together? For example, except when we came up here
to give you further flight instructions, did he ever enter the control
room?"

She shook her blond head. "No. Those are the only times I've seen him."

"Certain of that?" he asked.

Duomart nodded without hesitation. "Quite certain!"

Dasinger took an ointment tube from his pocket, removed its cap,
squeezed a drop of black, oily substance out on a fingertip. "Mind
rolling up your sleeve a moment?" he asked. "Just above the elbow...."

"What for?"

"It's because of the way those hypno sprays work," Dasinger said. "Give
your victim a dose of the stuff, tell him what to do, and it usually
gets done. And if you're being illegal about it, one of the first things
you tell him to do is to forget he's ever been sprayed. This goop is
designed for the specific purpose of knocking out hypnotic commands.
Just roll up your sleeve like a good girl now, and I'll rub a little of
it on your arm."

"You're not rubbing anything on my arm, mister!" Duomart told him
coldly.

Dasinger shrugged resignedly, recapped the tube, and dropped it in his
pocket. "Have it your way then," he remarked. "I was only ..."

He lunged suddenly towards her.

Duomart gave him quite a struggle. A minute or two later, he had her
down on the floor, her body and one arm clamped between his knees, while
he unzipped the cuff on the sleeve of the other arm and pulled the
sleeve up. He brought out the tube of antihypno ointment and rubbed a
few drops of the ointment into the hollow of Duomart's elbow, put the
tube back in his pocket, then went on holding her down f