t I did find
something else which made my power pack hum so loudly that I was
afraid of being heard. The thing which explained the strangeness of
the pompous Senator's attitude today--which explained, in short, many
things, and caused my brain to race with new ideas.

I put the thing in my chest container, and left as stealthily as I had
come. There had been progress, but since I had not found what I hoped
to find, I must now try my alternate plan.

Two hours later I found the one I sought, and made sure that I was
seen by him. Then I left Argon City by the South lock, furtively, as a
thief, always glancing over my shoulder, and when I made certain that
I was being followed, I went swiftly, and it was not long before I was
clambering over the first heaps of debris at the edge of the Dumps.

Once I thought I heard footsteps behind me, but when I looked back
there was no one in sight. Just the tiny disk of Deimos peering over
the sharp peak of the nearest ridge, the black velvet sky outlining
the curvature of this airless moon.

Presently I was in sight of home, the time-eaten hull of an ancient
star freighter resting near the top of a heap of junked equipment from
some old strip mining operation. It would never rise again, but its
shell remained strong enough to shelter my distillery and scant
furnishings from any chance meteorite that might fall.

I greeted it with the usual warmth of feeling which one has for the
safe and the familiar. I stumbled over tin fuel cans, wires and other
tangled metal in my haste to get there.

It was just as I had left it. The heating element under the network of
coils and pressure chambers still glowed with white heat, and the Moon
Glow was dripping with musical sound into the retort.

I felt good. No one ever bothered me here. This was my fortress, with
all that I cared for inside. My tools, my work, my micro-library. And
yet I had deliberately--

Something--a heavy foot--clanked upon the first step of the manport
through which I had entered.

I turned quickly. The form shimmered in the pale Deimoslight that
silhouetted it.

MS-33.

He had followed me here.

"What do you want?" I said. "What are you doing here?"

"A simple question," said MS-33. "Tonight you looked very suspicious
when you left Argon City. I saw you and followed you here. You may as
well know that I have never trusted you. All the old ones were
unreliable. That is why you were replaced."

He came in, bo