creen-booth outside, Vall found Tortha Karf looking out of the
screen; he was seated at his desk, fiddling with a gold multicolor
pen.

"Oh, Vall; something interesting has just come up." He spoke in a
voice of forced calmness. "I can't go into it now, but you'll want to
hear about it. I'm sending a car for you. Better bring Dalla along;
she'll want in on it, too."

"Right; we'll be on the top south-west landing stage in a few
minutes."

Dalla was still heatedly repudiating any resemblance between the
normal First Level methods of labor-recruitment and the activities of
the Wizard Traders; she had just finished the story of the woman whose
child had been brained when Vall rejoined the group.

"Dras, I'm awfully sorry," he said. "This is the second time in
succession that Dalla and I have had to bolt away from here, but
policemen are like doctors--always on call, and consequently
unreliable guests. While you're feasting, think commiseratingly of
Dalla and me; we'll probably be having a sandwich and a cup of coffee
somewhere."

"I'm terribly sorry." Thalvan Dras replied. "We had all been looking
forward--Well! Brogoth, have a car called for Vall and Dalla."

"Police car coming for us; it's probably on the landing stage now,"
Vall said. "Well, good-by, everybody. Coming, Dalla?"

* * * * *

They had a few minutes to wait, under the marquee, before the green
police aircar landed and came rolling across the rain-wet surface of
the landing stage. Crossing to it and opening the rear door, he put
Dalla in and climbed in after her, slamming the door. It was only then
that he saw Tortha Karf hunched down in the rear seat. He motioned
them to silence, and did not speak until the car was rising above the
building.

"I wanted to fill you in on this, as soon as possible," he said. "Your
hunch about Salgath Trod was good; just a few minutes before I called
you, he called me. He says this slave trade is the work of something
he calls the Organization; says he's been taking orders from them for
years. His attack on the Management and motion for a censure-vote
were dictated from Organization top echelon. Now he's convinced that
they're going to force him to make false accusations against the
Paratime Police and then kill him before he's compelled to repeat his
charges under narco-hypnosis. So he's offered to surrender and trade
information for protection."

"How much does he know?" Vall asked.