to take a short vacation before resuming her duties as
his confidential secretary. The next morning when she came down from her
room, a change had been made.

Two armed men were with Dom Blessing at breakfast and accompanied him
wherever he went. She discovered that two more men with guns were
stationed in the bare anteroom and a guard was stationed at every
entrance to the house.

"Why all the protection?" she asked Blessing.

"A wealthy man must be careful," said Blessing cheerfully. "When we
don't understand all the implications of new circumstances, we must be
prepared for anything, eh?"

There was only one new circumstance Trella could think of. Without
actually intending to, she exclaimed:

"You aren't afraid of Quest? Why, an android can't hurt a human!"

Blessing peered at her over his spectacles.

"And what if he isn't an android, eh? And if he is--what if old Mansard
didn't build in the prohibition against harming humans that's required
by law? What about that, eh?"

Trella was silent, shocked. There was something here she hadn't known
about, hadn't even suspected. For some reason, Dom Blessing feared Dr.
Eriklund Mansard ... or his heir ... or his mechanical servant.

* * * * *

She was sure that Blessing was wrong, that Quest, whether man or android,
intended no harm to him. Surely, Quest would have said something of
such bitterness during their long time together on Ganymede and aspace,
since he did not know of Trella's connection with Blessing. But, since
this was to be the atmosphere of Blessing's house, she was glad that he
decided to assign her to take the Mansard papers to the New York
laboratory.

Quest came the day before she was scheduled to leave.

Trella was in the living room with Blessing, discussing the instructions
she was to give to the laboratory officials in New York. The two
bodyguards were with them. The other guards were at their posts.

Trella heard the doorbell ring. The heavy oaken front door was kept
locked now, and the guards in the anteroom examined callers through a
tiny window.

Suddenly alarm bells rang all over the house. There was a terrific crash
outside the room as the front door splintered. There were shouts and the
sound of a shot.

"The steel doors!" cried Blessing, turning white. "Let's get out of
here."

He and his bodyguards ran through the back of the house out of the
garage.

Blessing, ahead of the res