ed Rockford inside, where Rockford settled down in the
easy-chair and yawned.

"I had a rather busy night," he said. "Certain events occurred yesterday
afternoon which forced me to change my own plans to some extent. Or to
set them ahead a day, I should say."

He made an effort to put the vision of Lyla from his mind and asked,
"Did you make any progress with Val Boran?"

"No, I'm afraid not. Of course, I didn't expect to." Rockford yawned
again. "There was another message from Supreme Command. The situation
is getting worse. Which reminds me of your Duty For The Day and the fact
that if you can live through it, you will have it made."

_He's my superior_, Hunter thought. _He's supposed to outrank a Space
Patrol General--and he's amused by the situation he's here to remedy._

"Right now," Rockford said, "Lyla faces a grim future and feels like she
doesn't have a friend in the world. She needs a shoulder to cry on. You
will take her for a walk and supply that shoulder."

Somehow, even though the order had nothing to do with the Terran-Verdam
crisis, he did not have the heart to object. She had been crying before
she even reached her door. Later, after he had comforted her, he would
demand that Rockford get down to determined effort on the Verdam
problem. No more than an hour would be lost by that....

"Yes, sir," he said. "But in the interests of Princess Lyla's safety, I
had better talk to her in her cabin. Alonzo saw Narf and Sonig bring
back eight--"

"Professional killers, to dispose of you," Rockford finished. "I know
all about it, and I know that Narf took time last night to spend an hour
with his favorite girl friend and brag even to her that he was going to
marry Lyla today before your dead body had time to get cool.

"But you just take Lyla for another walk and you will cause the
beginning of the end for the Verdam Peoples Worlds. You will go down in
history, my boy, as the man who saved the Terran Republic."

Hunter went out the door, again feeling a feverish sense of unreality.
He was to go forth and get blasted into hamburger and by some mysterious
process known only to Rockford, the Verdam empire would contritely start
collapsing....

He did not knock on her door. He did not think of it as a violation of
her privacy. She would be feeling too alone and unwanted to care.

She was not crying as he had thought she would be. She was standing by
the window, staring down at the gray, distant desert, he