the situation that prevailed politically in the Empire--more so,
in fact, than most men. He was also well aware that internal strife of a
very serious nature could so dangerously weaken the Empire that the
Gehan Federation would be able to attack and win.

His job was to cut off that sort of thing before it could gain momentum.
His job was to maintain the Empire; his only superior was the Emperor
himself; his subordinates hand-picked, well-trained, and, like himself,
unobtrusive to the public eye. And not one of those subordinates knew
who the colonel's superior was.

The colonel strolled along the streets of Honolulu with all the
courteous aplomb of a man who was both an officer and a gentleman of
leisure. He dropped in at various respectable clubs and did various
respectable things. He went into other places and did other things not
so respectable. He gave certain orders to certain people and made
certain odd arrangements. When everything had been set up to his
satisfaction, he ate a leisurely dinner, topped it off with two glasses
of Velaskan wine, read the tenth edition of the _Globe_, and strolled
out to the street again, looking every inch the impeccable gentleman.

At ten minutes of eleven, he took a skycab to the fashionable apartment
house where the Honorable Jon Senesin, son of the Prime Portfolio, made
his home. The skycab deposited him on the roof at two minutes of eleven.
The android doorman opened the entrance for him, and he took the drop
chute down to the fifteenth floor. At precisely eleven o'clock, he was
facing the announcer plate on Jon Senesin's door.

[Illustration]

Senesin opened the door. There was a queer look--half jubilant, half
worried--on his face as he said: "Come in, my lord, come in. Care for a
drink?"

"Don't mind if I do, Jon. Brandy, if you have it."

Young Senesin poured the brandy, speaking rapidly as he did. "I've made
an appointment to get those tapes, my lord. I want you to go with me. If
we can get them, we can break this whole fraud wide open. Wide open." He
handed the colonel a crystal goblet half filled with the clear,
red-brown liquid. "Sorry I left so hurriedly this morning, but if that
Heywood character had said another word I'd have broken his nose for
him."

The colonel took the goblet and looked into its depths. "Jon, what do
you expect these tapes to prove?"

The young man's face darkened. He walked across the spacious room,
brandy goblet in hand, and sat do