sidered the porgee pouch.

"Doesn't look too bad," she conceded. "That's real porgee in the top
section?"

"The real article. Close to nine hundred and fifty credits worth."

"Suppose somebody wants to borrow a sniff? Wouldn't be good to have them
fumbling around the pouch very much!"

"They can't," said the Commissioner. "That's why we made it porgee. When
you buy a supply, it has to be adjusted to your individual chemistry,
exactly. That's mainly what makes it expensive. Try using someone
else's, and it'll flip you across the room."

"Better get this adjusted to my chemistry then. I might have to take a
demonstration sniff now and then to make it look right."

"We've already done that," he said.

"Good," said Trigger. "Now let's see!" She straightened up, left hand
closed lightly around the bottom of the purse, right hand loose at her
side. Her eyes searched the office briefly. "Some object around here you
don't particularly value?" she asked. "Something largish?"

"Several," the Commissioner said. He glanced around. "That overgrown
flower pot in the corner is one. Why?"

"Just practicing," said Trigger. She turned to face the flower pot.
"That will do. Now--here I come along, thinking of nothing." She started
walking toward the flower pot. "Then, suddenly, in front of me, there
stands a plasmoid snatcher."

She stopped in mid-stride. Handbag and strap vanished, as her right hand
slapped the porgee pouch. The Denton popped into her palm. The flower
pot screeched and flew apart.

"Golly!" she said, startled. "Come, Fido!" Handbag and strap reappeared
and she reached out and caught the strap. She looked around at
Commissioner Tate.

"Sorry about your pot, Holati. I was just going to shake it up a little.
I forgot you people had been handling my gun. I keep it switched to
stunner myself when I'm carrying it," she added pointedly.

"Perfectly all right about the pot," the Commissioner said. "I should
have warned you. Otherwise, I'd say all you'd need is a moment to see
them coming."

Trigger spun the Denton to its stunner setting and laid it back inside
the slit which had appeared along the side of the porgee pouch. She ran
thumb and finger tip along the length of the slit, and the pouch was
sealed again.

"That's the part that's worrying me," she admitted.

* * * * *

When Trigger presented herself at Commissioner Tate's personal quarters
early that evening, she found