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Allowed Burglary. Sun, who viewed Allowed Burglars with a particularly thoroughgoing aversion, had convinced Baron Silverside that Allowed Burglary ought to be abolished, and Silverside had given Mr. Sun a free hand in designing the station's security systems.
    Sun was going after the burglars with all his cunning, all his intelligence, all the techniques he had created and savored over the years. Khamiss was going to help him.
    But still, Khamiss couldn’t find it in her soul to pursue the matter with quite as much alacrity as her employer. Had she known it was Alice Manderley in the darksuit and not some local thug, she might, in fact, have passed the woman by. She bore the institution of Allowed Burglary no grudge, nor any of its members.
    But still, duty called. And tracking the burglars, she admitted, might just be fun.
    Holograms announced the Viscount Cheng ’s successful docking. The woodwind quartet began to play. Khamiss nodded in time to the beat, and waited for the first wave of passengers.
    *
    “You'll excuse me, ladies, I hope.” Geoff Fu George gave his formal congé to Advert, the Duchess, and lastly to Pearl Woman. As he sniffed her left ear, his lips closed delicately over the dangling pearl and the sonic cutters in his white implanted incisors neatly severed the dangling link. He slipped the pearl under his tongue, smiled, and stepped across the Casino toward Miss Vanessa Runciter.
    Vanessa looked up at him and gave a near-imperceptible nod. Fu George knew that she'd caught everything on the micromedia globe she was wearing in her hair.
    Satisfaction welled in him like warm water from a volcanic spring. He had practiced the stunt for months, ever since he had conceived the idea of separating Pearl Woman from her trademark, in public, without her knowledge. He had been a bit clumsy at first: Vanessa had lost a part of her earlobe, and even after surgery restored her appearance Fu George had a difficult time persuading her to resume practice. But return she did, and now he could perform the trick flawlessly.
    The most satisfying part of his maneuver was that, since both he and Maijstral were present at the time, Pearl Woman wouldn’t know which had done it. Her temper was famous, but he doubted she'd challenge without proof.
    Fu George would sell it back to her, of course, through the most discreet agent he could find, assuming of course that she bid higher than any of her fans. But he wouldn’t sell the trinket before everyone in the Constellation had taken note that the Pearl had lost her trademark, and the speculation concerning who had done it reached its height. At that point the video would be released, and it would be obvious to whom should belong the credit, and the points.
    The Ratings Authority gave a full ten points for style. Geoff Fu George had it in abundance.
    He wasn’t on top by accident. He was very good at his work.
    *
    “Maijstral. I fancy a round or two of tiles. Will you join me?”
    “Certainly, your grace.” Mildly surprised at her suggestion, Maijstral offered Roberta his arm. Perhaps, he thought, she was just sizing up the opposition.
    “I understand the customs people here are very rigorous,” Roberta said. “I hope you are not entirely inconvenienced.”
    “I’m on station simply for the company.”
    Roberta shot him a look under her lashes. “Yes? How unfortunate. I hoped we might discuss . . . business matters.”
    Maijstral absorbed this. His lazy green eyes glowed. “I am entirely at your disposal, madam,” he said, and sat her at the tiles table
    “Five a point?”
    His voice betrayed a slight hesitation. “Very well,” he said.
    *
    Lord Qlp oozed onto a concourse that echoed to the sound of a woodwind quartet.
    Oozed, Khamiss thought. There was no other possible word. She tried very hard not to shudder.
    Lord Qlp was one of the Drawmii, a particularly enigmatic species living almost entirely on Zynzlyp. Though the Drawmii were undoubtedly intelligent and