here. Very pleasant place to spend
three-four days in my opinion, and I think, in yours."

"Very pleasant," Trigger agreed. "I've been suspecting it was you who
suggested it would be a good place to wait in."

"No," Mihul said. "Though I might have, if anyone had asked me. But
Whatzzit's handling all the arrangements, it seems. Now we could have
fun here--which, I suspect, would be the purpose as far as you're
concerned."

"Fun?" Trigger said.

"To put you into a good frame of mind for that interview, might be the
idea," Mihul said. "I don't know. Three days here should relax almost
anyone. Get in a little shooting. Loaf around the pools. Go for rides.
Things like that. The only trouble is I'm afraid you're nourishing dark
notions which are likely to take all the enjoyment out of it. Not to
mention the possibility of really relaxing."

"Like what?" Trigger asked.

"Oh," Mihul said, "there're all sorts of possibilities, of course." She
nodded her head at the guns. "Like yanking the Denton out of my holster
and feeding me a dose of the stunner. Or picking up that coffee pot
there and tapping me on the skull with it. It's about the right weight."

Trigger said thoughtfully, "I don't think either of those would work."

"They might," Mihul said. "They just might! You're fast. You've been
taught to improvise. And there's something eating you. You're edgy as a
cat."

"So?" Trigger said.

"So," Mihul said, "there are a number of alternatives. I'll lay them out
for you. You take your pick. For one, I could just keep you doped. Three
days in dope won't hurt you, and you'll certainly be no problem then.
Another way--I'll let you stay awake, but we stay in our rooms. I can
lock you in at night, and that window is escape-proof. I checked. It
would be sort of boring, but we can have tapes and stuff brought up. I'd
have the guns put away and I'd watch you like a hawk every minute of the
day."

She looked at Trigger inquiringly. "Like either of those?"

"Not much," Trigger said.

"They're safe," Mihul said. "Quite safe. Maybe I should.... Well, the
heat's off, and it's just a matter now of holding you for Whatzzit.
There're a couple of other choices. One of them has an angle you won't
like much either. On the other hand, it would give you a sporting chance
to take off if you're really wild about it. And it's entirely in line
with my instructions. I warned them you're tricky."

Trigger stopped eating. "Let's hear that