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on returning to Qallavarra they took me off that job. I just sort of act as steward and supervise household affairs and—”
    Olafsson grunted. “So you have a lot of free time?”
    “Not much, no.”
    “Some?’
    “Well-yes.”
    “And this is your first visit to the Acre. Well, well. Tell me, Shaw, what did you come to Qallavarra for?”
    I felt miserably like a naughty schoolboy being told off by a stern grandfather. I had to lick my lips before I could speak.
    “To-*o see it for myself and—and the job is well paid and not very demanding really, and—”
    Sessions put on an expression the twin of the one Marijane had worn when she first spotted my house shield on my arm.
    Olafsson, though, seemed quite calm. He said, “And you’re well treated? Comfortable? What are your quarters like?”
    “Quite well treated. UK—I have a room with water and heating and I have it to myself.”
    Olafsson got to his feet. He towered over Sessions and myself; he must have been nearly two meters tall, I judged. He beckoned me as he went to the window.
    “See that?” he said, pointing. “That’s the Acre out there. Fourteen thousand people in a few square blocks. There may be someone here who has a room with water and heating to himself; I don’t know of anybody. Water you hump in two-gallon cans from one of the six wells in the Acre. Food you get by trade with the few merchants on the fringes of the Acre who’ve not been intimidated out of trading with us. But Vorrish food lacks a few vitamins and has a few of its own we’re allergic to. How do you make out?”
    I looked at the floor, “They brought some Earthly vegetables for me—I use a few of them I tend myself.”
    “There’s no garden space in the Acre. We have to rely on pills.” Olafsson made it a fact, without hostility. “Now you have a piece of the picture. On the other side, we’re our own masters here; when your boss Pwill comes to see me he comes alone, without retainers, and likes it.”
    “What for?”
    “One of his family acquired some Earthly tastes during his spell as governor of Earth,” Olafsson said. “And they’re expensive here.”
    “I-see.”
    “Now we’re straight on the background. Why did you come to the Acre today?”
    I repeated the explanation I’d given before, in detail.
    Olafsson made no comment beyond glancing at Sessions and cocking his eyebrow again. He went back to his desk, apparently through with me.
    “Well, carry on with your little errand,” he said. “I trust you’ll call on your less prosperous cousins occasionally in ‘tie future, before you retire to your country estate or whatever you’ll be rich enough to buy when you go home.”
    Appalled at myself, I said, “Is there anything I can—can do? Like maybe bring in my vegetables, or something?”
    “You seem to be doing very nicely,” Olafsson grunted. “A comfortable, responsible position with one of the great houses—what more could you want? Outl I’ve got business to attend to!”

CHAPTER V

    T HANKFULLY I beat a retreat down the stairs and back into the street. The guard on duty by the door gave me a curiouslook, but said nothing. Trying to seem composed, I walked till I found a corner where the streets were numbered so that I could work out where I had to head for now.
    There seemed to be more people out and about than when I arrived; I checked my watch and figured that it was probably the midday break in work. Everyone seemed peaky and shabby, especially the young people, but there was a spring in their walk and a keenness in their faces which contrasted with the manner of the Vorra I had lived among so long.
    I found my landmarks and started off towards—what was the name they had given to the man I was going to see? Kramer, Ken had said. I wanted now to finish my errand and get the hell out, and come back when I’d recovered from my shock.
    I hadn’t gone very far, though, when I felt that someone was coming close behind me. Out of the