f them now. Whatever
she found would help him, and vice versa. The man who'd retroed her
had done the same to him. They were approaching the problem from
different angles. Between the two of them, they should come up with
the correct solution.

He walked away from the Shelters and caught the belt to the center of
town; the journey didn't take long. He stepped off, and wandered in
the bright sunshine, not quite aimlessly. At length he found an
Electronic Arms store, and went inside.

* * * * *

A robot came to wait on him. "I'd like to speak to the manager," he
said and the robot went away.

Presently the manager appeared, middle aged, drowsy. "What can I do
for you?"

Luis laid the retrogression gun on the counter. "I'd like to know who
this was sold to."

The manager coughed. "Well, there are millions of them, hundreds of
millions."

"I know, but I have to find out."

The manager picked it up. "It's a competitor's make," he said
doubtfully. "Of course, as a courtesy to a customer...." He fingered
it thoughtfully. "Do you really want to know? It's just a freezer. Not
at all dangerous."

Luis looked at it with concern. Just a freezer--not a retro gun at
all! Then it couldn't have been the weapon used on him.

Before he could take it back the manager broke it open. The drowsy
expression vanished.

"Why didn't you say so?" exclaimed the manager, examining it. "This
gun has been illegally altered." He bent over the exposed circuits and
then glanced up happily at Luis. "Come here, I'll show you."

Luis followed him to the small workshop in the back of the store. The
manager closed the door behind them and fumbled among the equipment.
He mounted the gun securely in a frame and pressed a button which
projected an image of the circuit onto a screen.

The manager was enjoying himself. "Everybody's entitled to
self-protection," he said. "That's why we sell so many like these.
They're harmless, won't hurt a baby. Fully charged, they'll put a man
out for half an hour, overload his nervous system. At the weakest,
they'll still keep him out of action for ten minutes. Below that, they
won't work at all." He looked up. "Are you sure you understand this?"

It had been included in his re-education, but it didn't come readily
to his mind. "Perhaps you'd better go over it for me."

The manager wagged his head. "As I said, the freezer is legal, won't
harm anyone. It'll stop a man or an ele