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get to the bottom of since we got here. We try not to have our agents commit their full lives to a backward planet like this one, and we certainly don’t allow families to settle here, but we may have to make an exception. The mystery is handed down in certain families only, and outsiders don’t have a chance of getting anywhere near it. Something will have to be done, but I hope it’s done after my time. It’s bound to be involved and risky.”
    He stopped again, as though he’d already said whatever there was to say, and I shifted on the bench, my curiosity really aroused.
    “Well?” I prompted, wondering if he’d ever remember to include details. “What is this fantastic mystery? Don’t tell me the secret is a secret?”
    He looked down into his glass as he gently swirled the light, silvery wine, and he seemed to be fascinated with whatever he saw there.
    “I’m sorry to say that the secret is just exactly that,” be murmured.
    “I don’t think you should be too overburdened with knowledge when you go back to your home sector.”
    He was so off-hand and casual about it that I nearly missed it. My arm, which was stretched out to put my glass back on the table, froze to complete motionlessness, and my jaw dropped down to where I was sitting.
    “Do you mean to sit there and say that you’re sending me home?” I gasped, staring at him. “Why?”
    The grin he’d been hiding came all the way out, and he laughed aloud.
    “Because, as I told you, we hope to make peaceful contact with your people some day,” he chuckled. “The more friends we have there when the day comes, the better off we’ll be. I’m also personally convinced you’ll say nothing about us when you do get back.”
    I finished putting my glass on the table, then added my forearms right in front of it.
    “Oh, yes,” I nodded with a grumble. “I’d almost forgotten that unconscious conversation we had. Maybe if you tell me what I said, I’ll find it easier to believe what you’re saying.”
    “You’ll believe it when you get there,” he grinned, then finished off his wine. “I found out that much about you. You said you’d been sent away from your people by someone who wanted to get rid of you before you put him out of business. I gathered that the business was illegal, and you’re some sort of law enforcement agent for your Federation.”
    His eyes were on me in a casual, mildly curious way, so I made sure to squirm uncomfortably and blush enough to be noticed.
    “I’d already gotten the proof I needed, but I got careless,” I confessed in an embarrassed voice. “Radman’s a slaver, and that’s too lucrative a business not to watch closely. My department would have known he was responsible for my disappearance, but the way he worked it, be would have come out as innocent as an infant if he were put to the Question. he would have been asked about my present physical whereabouts and condition, and he would have been able to answer in all honesty, ‘I don’t know’!”
    The thought of it made me furious all over again, but I was careful not to show the feeling. Radman had seen to it that I would have been able to stay alive and healthy for years, and hadn’t given a damn that during those years I most likely would have become a raving lunatic. The thought had been with me constantly during those two months aboard the ship, but now I was able to think about coming face to face with him again, now there was more than just the dream of it.
    The fingernails of my right hand scraped along the white stone of the table top, and I barely felt it.
    I was brought back to my surroundings when Dameron rose from his bench and put his hand out to me.
    “If you feel up to a short guided tour, we can check on your transportation home on the way,” he smiled. “My second and I’ve been working on your ship in our free time, getting it back together, and the only thing we haven’t done yet is reprogram your course computer.
    You know,