He smiled again, with a warm, fatherly pride. "First, let me
congratulate you, officially on your decision, and to welcome you
sincerely into the Secret Service."

Hanlon bowed in acknowledgement, then sat down and leaned forward
attentively. "I'll try to get it all, sir."

"First, the matter of your dismissal. It will come some time within the
next few days, but even I won't know ahead of time when or how it will
happen. Some SS man unknown on Terra will be called in to attend to it.
But when it does come you will recognize it almost instantly, and you
must play it up big. Don't let on in any way that you suspect or know it
is anything but genuine. You must impress on your fellow students, and
upon everyone else you know or later come to know, that it was real, and
that it has soured you for all time on the Corps, and on all law and
order and government."

The young man nodded, but said nothing, for his throat was clogged and
his spirits quailing at thought of that public disgrace. He had been so
proud here ... how could he possibly stand giving it all up? Maybe he
was a fool ever to have agreed.

But the admiral was continuing. He shoved a sheaf of bills across the
desk. "Here's a thousand credits. Use them to buy your civilian clothes
and kit after your dismissal. Buy a few shares of some stock, too--the
amount or value doesn't matter. Get a small insurance policy. Yes,"
seeing his son's questioning look, "there's a reason.

"After you get your clothing and things and have discarded your uniform,
go rent a hotel room, then go to the Inter-Stellar bank and rent a
safety deposit box. That's one of the first things you do in each city
on any planet to which you may be sent on assignment. Now, here are two
keys that fit box number 1044 in all the I-S banks. They are special
master keys of our own designing. Box 1044 is used because of its
nearness to those private booths, in the universal set-up all I-S banks
use. That box is our means of confidential communication.

"After you get into the vault ostensibly to get into your own box, use
these to open box 1044. There's a little electronic gadget in each box
1044. When you want immediate service on anything you put into the box,
press the red button on the mechanism. Go back a few hours later and it
will have been attended to. So now, when you get into the bank, put a
note there listing your hotel room number and also your new deposit key
number. Come back in a c