e of the Foundation building
jumped at the thunderous noise and reached for his gun. He dropped
his hand sheepishly when he realized it was only a sneeze--though a
gargantuan one. Brion came up, sniffling, huddling down into his
coat. "I'm going out before I catch pneumonia," he said. The guard
saluted dumbly, and after checking his proximity detector screens he
slipped out and the heavy portal thudded shut behind him. The street
was still warm from the heat of the day and he sighed happily and
opened his coat.

This was partly a reconnaissance trip--and partly a way of getting
warmed up. There was little else he could do in the building; the
staff had long since retired. He had slept for a half an hour, and
had waked refreshed and ready to work. All of the reports he could
understand had been read and reread until they were memorized. He
could use the time now, while the rest of them were asleep, to get
better acquainted with the main city of Dis.

As he walked the dark streets he realized how alien the Disan way of
life was to everything he knew. This city--Hovedstad--literally
meant "main place" in the native language. And that's all it was. It
was only the presence of the offworlders that made it into a city.
Building after building, standing deserted, bore the names of mining
companies, traders, space transporters. None of them was occupied
now. Some still had lights burning, switched on by automatic
apparatus, others were as dark as the Disan structures. There
weren't many of these native constructions and they seemed out of
place among the rammed earth and prefab offworld buildings. Brion
examined one that was dimly illuminated by the light on the corner
of VEGAN SMELTERS, LTD.

It consisted of a single large room, resting right on the ground.
There were no windows, and the whole thing appeared to have been
constructed of some sort of woven material plastered with stone-hard
mud. Nothing was blocking the door and he was thinking seriously of
going in when he became aware that he was being followed.

It was only a slight noise, almost lost in the night. Normally it
would never have been noticed, but tonight Brion was listening with
his entire body. Someone was behind him, swallowed up in the pools
of darkness. Brion shrank back against the wall. There was very
little chance this could be anyone but a Disan. He had a sudden
memory of Mervv's severed head as it had been discovered outside the
door.

Ihjel ha