at. But
about His Highness--was he top man?"

Hanlon knit his forehead in concentration. "I ... don't ... know," he
said slowly. "No one ever spoke of anyone as his superior. He's the man
they were all afraid of...." He paused a moment, then said, even more
slowly, "I've a peculiar hunch. I wish you'd have your best physicians
examine that body. Have 'em use X-rays and fluoroscopes, rather than an
autopsy. I'm not entirely convinced he was a human being."

"What?" There was incredulity in that question. "What gives you that
idea?"

"Sorry, sir, I can't give you my reasons just now," Hanlon's face
flushed, and his eyes were appealing. "It isn't that I don't trust you,
sir, but there's one secret I feel shouldn't be told now. Maybe
later--and if I do tell it to anyone outside of SS men, you will be the
first--you deserve that."

"Right, sir. I didn't mean to prowl," the admiral showed no resentment,
much to Hanlon's relief. "Your orders go, as I said."

He touched a stud on his desk and when the doctor's face appeared on the
screen, gave the necessary orders. "Look carefully to see if the
internal arrangement of bones and organs is human--but do not cut
without specific orders."

"What about the emperor, sir?" Hanlon asked. "You've undoubtedly formed
some sort of opinion about him."

"He was a wonderful soldier and executive as a young and as a
middle-aged man," Hawarden said thoughtfully and, Hanlon sensed, sadly.
"It was his grandfather who pulled the original coup that made this
planet into an empire with himself as first emperor. His son, the second
emperor, was also a very good co-ordinator, and solidified the empire
status. The present emperor went into the army at sixteen, and rose
rapidly through sheer merit rather than because his father was emperor.
All historians agree on that. Just before he reached thirty he was in
full command. He was thirty-six when his father died, and he became the
third emperor."

"Then you think he may be back of this whatever-it-is?"

"No," the admiral shook his head. "Somehow I can't quite feel that way.
During his first years as emperor he was one of the most co-operative of
all Planetary rulers within the Federation."

"What about his Prime Minister ... and by the way, what was his name? I
never heard him called anything but 'His Highness'?"

"His name was Gorth Bohr. He seems to have appeared from nowhere almost
overnight--as an important personage, I mean. We've trac