* *

Luise was there, puzzled and sleepy. For reasons of his own, Borgenese
had sent a squad to bring her in. Might as well have her here and get
it over with, Luis thought. She smiled at him, and he knew that Putsyn
hadn't lied about that part. She remembered him and therefore Putsyn
hadn't had time to do much damage.

Borgenese was at the desk as he walked in. Luis swung Putsyn off his
shoulder and dropped him into a chair. The man was still unconscious,
but wouldn't be for long.

"I see you brought a visitor," remarked Borgenese pleasantly.

"A customer," he said.

"Customers are welcome too," said the police counselor. "Of course,
it's up to us to decide whether he _is_ a customer."

Luise started to cross the room, but Borgenese motioned her back. "Let
him alone. I think he's going to have a rough time."

"Yeah," said Luis.

It was nice to know that Luise liked him now--because she wouldn't
after this was over.

He wiped the sweat off his forehead; all of it hadn't come from
physical exertion.

"Putsyn here is a scientist," he said. "He worked out a machine that
reverses the effects of the retro gun. He intended to go to everyone
who'd been retrogressed, and in return for giving them back their
memory, they'd sign over most of their property to him.

"Naturally, they'd agree. They all want to return to their former
lives that bad, and, of course, they aren't aware of how much money
they had. He had it all his way. He could use the machine to
investigate them, and take only those who were really wealthy. He'd
give them a partial recovery in the machine, and when he found out who
they were, give them a quick shot of a built-in retro gun, taking them
back to the time they'd just entered his office. They wouldn't suspect
a thing.

"Those who measured up he'd sign an agreement with, and to the other
poor devils he'd say that he was sorry but he couldn't help them."

Putsyn was conscious now. "It's not so," he said sullenly. "He can't
prove it."

"I don't think he's trying to prove that," said Borgenese, still calm.
"Let him talk."

Luis took a deep breath. "He might have gotten away with it, but he'd
hired a laboratory assistant to help him perfect the machine. She
didn't like his ideas; she thought a discovery like that should be
given to the public. He didn't particularly care what she thought, but
now the trouble was that she could build it too, and since he couldn't
patent it and still