ry brief. The professor wanted to learn more about the First
Lady's depravities himself.

--and its various possible associations with the main unit. But by the
time this information became available to her, 113-A had been placed
under heavy guard. Professor Mantelish had made one attempt to smuggle
it out to her.

Huff-huff!

--but had been unable to walk past the guards with it. Tranest agents
had made several unsuccessful attempts to pick up the plasmoid. She knew
that another group had made similarly unsuccessful attempts. The
Devagas. She did not yet know the specific nature of 113-A's importance.
But it was important.

Trigger: Trigger Argee might be able to tell them why Trigger was
important. Doctor Fayle certainly could. So could the top ranks of the
Devagas hierarchy. Lyad, at the moment, could not. She did know that
Trigger Argee's importance was associated directly with that of plasmoid
113-A. This information had been obtained from a Devagas operator, now
dead. Not Balmordan. The operator had been in charge of the attempted
pickup on Evalee. The much more elaborate affair at the Colonial School
had been a Tranest job. A Devagas group had made attempts to interfere
with it, but had been disposed of.

Pluly: Lyad had strings on Belchik. He was afraid of the Devagas but
somewhat more terrified of her. His fear of the Devagas was due to the
fact that he and an associate had provided the hierarchy with a very
large quantity of contraband materials. The nature of the materials
indicated the Devagas were constructing a major fortified outpost on a
world either airless or with poisonous atmosphere. Pluly's associate had
since been murdered. Pluly believed he was next in line to be silenced.

Balmordan: Balmordan had been a rather high-ranking Devagas Intelligence
agent. Lyad had heard of him only recently. He had been in charge of the
attempts to obtain 113-A. Lyad had convinced him that she would make a
very dangerous competitor in the Manon area. She also had made
information regarding her activities there available to him. So
Balmordan and a select group of his gunmen had attended Pluly's party on
Pluly's yacht. They had been allowed to force their way into the sealed
level and were there caught in a black-light trap. The gunmen had been
killed. Balmordan had been questioned.

The questioning revealed that the Devagas had found Doctor Fayle and the
112-113 unit, almost immediately after Fayle's disappear