I
gathered my few belongings together and strode out of the room. He would
not touch the coins I offered; I laid them on a chest and he let them
lie there, and as I went into the reddening morning they came flying
after me into the street.

I pulled the silk from the Toy and tried to make some sense from my
predicament. The little thing lay innocent and silent in my palm. It
wouldn't tell me whether it had been keyed to me, the real Cargill, some
time in the past, or to Rakhal, using my name and reputation in the
Terran Colony here at Charin.

If I pressed the stud it might play out this comedy of errors by hunting
down Rakhal, and all my troubles would be over. For a while, at least,
until Evarin found out what had happened. I didn't deceive myself that I
could carry the impersonation through another meeting.

On the other hand, if I pressed the stud, the bird might turn on me. And
then all my troubles would be over for good.

If I delayed past Evarin's deadline, and did nothing, the other bird in
his keeping would hunt down Juli and give her a swift and not too
painless death.

I spent most of the day in a _chak_ dive, juggling plans. Toys, innocent
and sinister. Spies, messengers. Toys which killed horribly. Toys which
could be controlled, perhaps, by the pliant mind of a child, and every
child hates its parents now and again!

Even in the Terran colony, who was safe? In Mack's very home, one of the
Magnusson youngsters had a shiny thing which might, or might not, be one
of Evarin's hellish Toys. Or was I beginning to think like a
superstitious Dry-towner?

Damn it, Evarin couldn't be infallible; he hadn't even recognized me as
Race Cargill! Or--suddenly the sweat broke out, again, on my
forehead--_or had he_? Had the whole thing been one of those sinister,
deadly and incomprehensible nonhuman jokes?

I kept coming to the same conclusion. Juli was in danger, but she was
half a world away. Rakhal was here in Charin. There was a child
involved--Juli's child. The first step was to get inside the Terran
colony and see how the land lay.

Charin is a city shaped like a crescent moon, encircling the small Trade
City: a miniature spaceport, a miniature skyscraper HQ, the clustered
dwellings of the Terrans who worked there, and those who lived with them
and supplied them with necessities, services and luxuries.

Entry from one to the other is through a guarded gateway, since this is
hostile territory, and Charin