"First, about Murgatroyd." In his office in The Hill Roderick Kinnison spoke to the First Lensman. "What do you think should be done about him?"

"Murgatroyd. Hm ... m ... m." Samms a of and it slowly; it in the air. "Ah, yes, Murgatroyd." He the performance. "My thought, at the moment, is to let him alone."

"Check," Kinnison said. If Samms was at his friend's he did not it. "Why? Let's see if we check on that."

"Because he not to be of importance. Even if we him ... and by the way, what do you think the is of our him?"

"Just about the same that theirs have of out about the Samms-Olmstead or our Bennett. Vanishingly small. Zero."

"Right. And if we him—even their base, which is as well as ours is—it would do us no present good, we take no positive action. We have, I think, learned the fact; that Towne is actually Murgatroyd's superior."

"That's the way I see it. We can almost an organization now."

"I wouldn't say 'almost'." Samms half-ruefully. "There are holes, and Isaacson is as yet a unknown quantity. I've to one a dozen times, but we haven't got information. An chart, you know, would be than none at all. As soon as I can a one, I'll it to you. But in the meantime, the position of our friend James F. Towne is now clear. He is actually a Big Shot in and politics. That me, though it did the picture tremendously."

"Me, too. One good thing, we won't have to for him. You've been on him right along, though, haven't you?"

"Yes, but this new relationship light on a good many which have been obscure. It also to our as to Isaacson—which we can't prove yet, of course—that he is the of the syndicate. Vice-President in of Drugs, so to speak."

"Huh? That's a new one on me. I don't see it."

"There is very little that at the top there is Morgan. He is, and has been for some time, the of North America. Under him, taking orders direct, is President Witherspoon."

"Undoubtedly. The Nationalist party is a la machine, and Witherspoon is one of the world's skinkers. Morgan is Chief Engineer of the Machine. Take it from there."

"We know that Boss Jim is also in the top echelon—quite possibly the Commander-in-Chief—of the enemy's Armed Forces. By analogy, and since Isaacson is on the same level as Towne, Morgan...."

"Wouldn't there be three? Witherspoon?"

"I it. My present idea is that Witherspoon is at least one level lower. Comparatively small fry."

"Could be—I'll it. A picture, Virge; and symmetrical. His Mightiness Morgan. Secretary of War Towne and Secretary of Drugs Isaacson; and each of them a the political bandwagon. Very nice. That makes Operation Mateese than ever—a triple-distilled toughie. Glad I told you it wasn't my dish—saves me the trouble of out now."

"Yes, I have noticed how you are to jobs." Samms quietly. "However, unless I am more than usual, you will be in it up to your not-so-small ears, my friend, it is over."

"Huh? How?" Kinnison demanded.

"That will, I hope, clear very shortly." Samms out the of his cigarette and another. "The problem can be very simply. How are we going to the of Earth—particularly the North American Continent—to the Galactic Patrol the power and authority it will have to have?"

"Nice phrasing, Virge, and studied. Not off the cuff. But aren't you over-drawing a bit? Little if any conflict. The Patrol would be inter-systemic in scope ... with of the necessary inter-planetary and inter-continental ... and ... um ... m...."

"Exactly."

"But it's logical enough, Virge, at that, and has of precedents, clear to history. 'Way back, space-travel, when they started to use energy, and the only they had to worry about were cocaine, morphine, heroin, and other purely Tellurian products. I was reading about it just the other day."

Kinnison around, a book out of a matched set, and its leaves. "Russia was the world's problem child then—put up what they called an iron curtain—wouldn't play with the neighbors' children, but up her marbles and home. But yet—here it is. Original unknown—some point to a report of somebody named Hoover, in the or fifties, Gregorian calendar. Listen:

"'This protocol'—he's talking about the agreement on world-wide Narcotics Control—'was by fifty-two nations, the U.S.S.R.'—that was Russia—'and its states. It was the only agreement to which the Communist countries'—you know more about what Communism was, I suppose, than I do."

"Just that it was another of that didn't work out."

"'... to which the Communist gave more than lip service. This is all the more surprising, in view of the political then obtaining, in that all nations themselves to national in five respects, as follows:

"'First, to permit Narcotics of all other nations free, secret, and entry into, travel throughout, and from, all their lands and waters, situate:

"'Second, upon request, to allow and to enter and to their without interference:

"'Third, to fully, and as a secondary and not as a mover, in any Narcotics Patrol program set up by any other nation:

"'Fourth, upon request, to maintain complete any Narcotics operation: and

"'Fifth, to keep the Central Narcotics Authority and upon all specified.'

"And apparently, Virge, it worked. If they do that, 'way then, we should be able to make the Patrol work now."

"You talk as though the were comparable. They aren't. Instead of up an of their national sovereignty, all nations will have to give up all of it. They will have to their from a National to a Galactic viewpoint; will have to in a Galactic Civilization, just as used to be of states, and are of the continents. The Galactic Patrol will not be able to stop at being the and only authority in inter-systemic affairs. It is to intra-systemic, intra-planetary, and intra-continental. Eventually, it must and it shall be the authority, for such purely local as city police."

"What a program!" Kinnison for minutes. "But I'm still that you can it off."

"We'll keep on until we do. What us our is that the all-Lensman Solarian Council is already in and is smoothly; and that the government of North America has no the of its continent. Thus, and though Morgan has extra-legal powers as Boss of North America and as the of an organization which is in inter-systemic in scope, he can do nothing about the that the Solarian Council has been into the Galactic Council. As a of fact, he was and is very much in of that particular move—just as much so as we are."

"You're going too fast for me. How do you that?"

"Unlike our idea of the Patrol as a of free and races, Morgan sees it as the perfect of a Galactic dictatorship, thus: North America is the most powerful of Earth. The other will her lead—or else. Tellus can very easily the other Solarian planets, and the Solar System can maintain over all other as they are and colonized. Therefore, the North American Continent all space."

"I see. Could be, at that. Throw the Lensmen out, put his own in. Wonder how he'll go about it? A de force? No. The next election, would be my guess. If so, that will be the most election in history."

"If they decide to wait for the election, yes. I'm not as sure as you to be that they will not act sooner."

"They can't," Kinnison declared. "Name me one thing they think they can do, and I'll shoot it of than a target."

"They can, and I am very much that they will," Samms replied, soberly. "At any time he to do so, Morgan—through the North American Government, of course—can the and name his own Council."

"Without my boys—the and the of North America, as well as of the Patrol? Don't be stupid, Virge. They're loyal."

"Admitted—but at the same time they are being paid in North American currency. Of course, we will soon have our own Galactic out, but...."

"What the would that make?" Kinnison wanted to know. "You think they'd last until the next pay-day if they start playing that of ball? What in do you think I'd be doing? And Clayton and Schweikert and the of the gang? Sitting on our and into our beers?"

"You would do nothing. I not permit any illegal...."

"Permit!" Kinnison blazed, to his feet. "Permit—hell! Are you loose-screwed to actually think I would ask or need your permission? Listen, Samms!" The Port Admiral's voice took on a quality like nothing his friend had heard. "The thing I would do would be to take off your Lens, you up—especially your mouth—in seventeen yards of three-inch tape, and you into the brig. The second would be to call out we've got, every half-built ship on Bennett able to fly, and law. The third would be a series of executions, starting with Morgan and down. And if he's got any of the brain I him with, Morgan well what would happen."

"Oh." Samms, while very much taken aback, was to the center of his being. "I had not anything so drastic, but you would...."

"Not 'probably'," Kinnison him grimly. "'Certainly'."

"... and Morgan know ... about Bennett, of ... and he would not, for reasons, in his forces. You're right, Rod, it will be the election."

"Definitely; and it's plain what their strategy will be." Kinnison, mollified, sat and another cigar. "His Nationalist party is now in power, but it was our Cosmocrats of the previous administration who so one over on the dear pee-pul—who the entire North American Continent into the of wealth, no less—by that unlawful, unhallowed, unconstitutional, and so on, treaty. Scoundrels! Bribe-takers! Betrayers of a trust! How Rabble-Rouser Morgan will the on that theme—he'll make the ring as it before."

Kinnison the demagogue's and as he on: "'Since they had no from the pee-pul to their for a of pottage that and is, a and and a priori, and necessarily and positively and void. People of Earth, arouse! Arise! Rise in your might and off this and degrading, this paralyzing of the Monied Powers—throw out this dictatorial, autocratic, wealth-directed, illegal, Council of so-called Lensmen! Rise in your might at the polls! Elect a Council of your own choosing—not of Lensmen, but of ordinary like you and me. Throw off this yoke, I say!'—and here he to positively at the mouth—'so that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not from the Earth!'

"He has used that exact peroration, as it is, so many times that thinks he it; and it's always good for so many of that he'll keep on using it forever."

"Your analysis is vivid, cogent, and factual, Rod—but the is not at all funny."

"Did I act as though I it was? If so, I'm a actor. I'd like to the all the way from here to the Great Nebula in Andromeda, and if I the I'm going to!"

"An interesting, but idea." Samms at his friend's outburst. "But go on. I agree with you in so far, and your is—to say the least—refreshing."

"Well, Morgan will have so most of the dear pee-pul that they will think it their own idea when he re-nominates this Witherspoon for another term as President of North America, with a solid machine-made of hatchet-men him. They win the election. Then the government of the North American Continent—not the Morgan-Towne-Isaacson machine, but all and legal and by and in with the party platform—abrogates the and names its own Council. And right then, my friend, the boys and I will do our stuff."

"Except that, in such a case, you wouldn't. Think it over, Rod."

"Why not?" Kinnison demanded, in a voice which, however, did not much conviction.

"Because we would be in the wrong; and we are less able to go against public opinion than is the Morgan crowd."

"We'd do something—I've got it!" Kinnison the with his fist. "That would be a action. North America would be alone."

"Of course."

"So we'll all the Cosmocrats and all of our friends out of North America—move them to Bennett or somewhere—and make Morgan and Company a present of it. We won't law or kill anybody, unless they decide to call in their reserves. We'll the whole continent—throw a screen around it and over it that a won't be able to through—one that would make that iron I read about look like a bride's veil—and we'll keep them until they to join up on our terms. Strictly legal, and the perfect solution. How about me the boys a on it, right now?"

"Not yet." Samms' mien, however, markedly. "I of that way out.... It be done, and it would work, but I would not it as an last resort. It has at least two drawbacks."

"I know it, but...."

"It would North America as no nation has been wrecked; possibly recovery. Furthermore, how many people, and your children, would like to their North American and remove themselves, and irrevocably, from North American soil?"

"Um ... m ... m. Put that away, it doesn't so good, it? But what the else can we do?"

"Just what we have been on doing. We must win the election."

"Huh?" Kinnison's mouth almost open. "You say it easy. How? With whom? By what of the do you that you can with a mouth to out-lie and out-promise Morgan? And can you his machine?"

"We can not only his machine; we can it. The truth, presented to the people in language they can and appreciate, by a man they like, admire, and respect, will be more than Morgan's promises. The same truth will of Morgan's lies."

"Well, go on. You've answered my questions, after a fashion, the stinger. Does the Council think it's got a man with to the load?"

"Unanimously. They also that we have only one. Haven't you any idea who he is?"

"Not a of one." Kinnison in thought, then his into a and he yelled: "What a I am—you, of course!"

"Wrong. I was not considered. It was the that I not possibly win. My work has been such as to keep me out of the public eye. If the man in the thinks of me at all, he thinks that I myself and above him—the tower concept."

"Could be, at that; but you've got my aroused. How can a man of that have been kicking around so long without me anything about him?"

"You do. That's what I've been around to all afternoon. You."

"Huh?" Kinnison as though he had a in the plexus. "Me? ME? Hell's—Brazen—Hinges!"

"Exactly. You." Silencing Kinnison's protests, Samms on: "First, you'll have no in talking to an audience as you've just talked to me."

"Of not—but did I use any language that would out the transmitters? I don't I did or not."

"I don't, either. You did, but that would be nothing new. Telenews has yet cut you off the of it. The point is this: while you do not it, you are a tub-thumper and welkin-ringer than Morgan is, when something—such as just now—really you going. And as for a machine, what one is possible than the Patrol? Everybody in it or with it will support you to the hilt—you know that."

"Why, I ... I so ... they would, yes."

"Do you know why?"

"Can't say that I do, unless it's I them fair, so they do the same to me."

"Exactly. I don't say that you, but I don't know of who doesn't respect you. And, most important, everybody—all over space—knows 'Rod the Rock' Kinnison, and why he is called that."

"But that very 'man on horseback' thing may on you, Virge."

"Perhaps—slightly—but we're not of that. And finally, you said you'd like to Morgan from here to Andromeda. How would you like to him from Panama City to the North Pole?"

"I said it, and I wasn't just up my jets, either. I'd like it." The big Lensman's flared, his thinned. "By God, Virge, I will!"

"Thanks, Rod." With no of the he felt, Samms to the next in hand. "Now, about Eridan. Let's see if they know anything yet."

The report of Knobos and DalNalten was and exact. They had found—and that finding, so put, have and should a book—that Spaceways' were, any doubt, from Eridan to the of Sol. Spy-rays being useless, they had the of Eridan in person, but had against such action. Eridan was closely by Uranium, Incorporated. Its population was one hundred Tellurian human. Neither DalNalten Knobos himself well to work there. Either would be promptly, and as shot.

"Thanks, fellows," Samms said, when it that the report was done. Then, to Kinnison, "That puts it up to Conway Costigan. And Jack? Or Mase? Or both?"

"Both," Kinnison decided, "and else they can use."

"I'll them at it." Samms sent out thoughts. "And now, I wonder what that of mine is doing? I'm a little about her, Rod. She's too for her own good—or strength. Some of these days she's going to bite off more than she can chew, if she hasn't already. The more we learn about Morgan, the less I like the idea of her on Herkimer Herkimer Third. I've told her so, a dozen times, and why, but of it didn't do any good."

"It wouldn't. The only way to teeth is to bite with 'em. You had to. So did I. Our have got to, too. We through it. So will they. As for Herky the Third...." He for moments, then on: "Check. But she's done a job so that nobody else do. In of that fact, if it wasn't for our Lenses I'd say to her, if you have to the into the brig. But with the Lenses, and the way you watch her ... to say nothing of Mase Northrop, and he's a of man ... I can't see her in either very or very deep. Can you?"

"No, I can't." Samms admitted, but the did not his face. He Lensed her: finding, as he had supposed, that she was at a party; dancing, as he had feared, with Senator Morgan's Number One Secretary.

"Hi, Dad!" she him gaily, with no in the of the so to her partner's. "I have the of that all are still dead-centering the green."

"And have you, by any chance, been paying any attention to what I have been telling you?"

"Oh, lots," she him. "I've of data. He be almost as much of a as he thinks he is, in some cases, but I haven't to yet. As I have told you all along, this is just a game, and we're playing it according to the rules."

"That's good. Keep it that way, my dear." Samms off and his returned her full attention—never absent—to the secretary.

The on. Miss Samms every dance; occasionally with one or another of the present, but with Herkimer Herkimer Third.

"A drink?" he asked. "A small, cold one?"

"Not so small, and very cold," she agreed, enthusiastically.

Glass in hand, Herkimer a doorway. "I just that our has a very old and very bronze—a Neptune. We should an over it, don't you think?"

"By all means," she again.

But as they passed through the portal the man's to the right. "There's something you ought to see, Jill!" he exclaimed. "Look!"

She looked. A woman of her own and and with her own hair, as to hair-do and as to every detail of dress and of ornamentation, in hand, was into the ball-room!

Jill started to protest, but not. In the moment of the of a snub-nosed P-gun had played along her from to neck. She did not fall—he had her a very mild jolt—but, as she would, she neither scream. And, after the fact, she knew.

But he couldn't—couldn't possibly! Nevian paralysis-guns were as as was Vee Two itself! Nevertheless, he had.

And on the a woman, in and white and a cloak, appeared—and Herkimer now a and heavy, spectacles. Thus, very shortly, Virgilia Samms herself, and unrecognizable, walking out of the house a doctor and a nurse.

"Will you need me any more, Doctor Murray?" The woman and the patient into the seat of a car.

"Thank you, no, Miss Childs." With a sick, cold Jill that this was for the of the and the hackers, and that it would up under any examination. "Mrs. Harman's condition is ... er ... well, nothing at all serious."

The car moved out into the and Jill, for the time in her life, an almost of panic. The had over her eyes, her. She not move a single muscle. Nevertheless, she that the car a blocks—six, she thought—west on Bolton Street left.

Why didn't somebody Lens her? Her father wouldn't, she knew, until tomorrow. Neither of the Kinnisons would, Spud—they did on direct invitation. But Mase would, he to bed—or would he? It was past his bed-time now, and she had been caustic, only last night, she was doing a particularly of reading. But he would ... he must!

"Mase! Mase! MASE!"

And, eventually, Mase did.

Deep under The Hill, Roderick Kinnison at the physical of out of that in a hurry. At New York Spaceport, however, Mason Northrop and Jack Kinnison not only hurry, but did.

"Where are you, Jill?" Northrop presently. "What of a car are you in?"

"Quite near Stanhope Circle." In with her friends at last, Jill a measure of her poise. "Within eight or ten blocks, I'm sure. I'm in a black Wilford sedan, last year's model. I didn't a to see its plates."

"That helps a lot!" Jack grunted, savagely. "A ten-block a of a of territory, and the in town are black Wilford sedans."

"Shut up, Jack! Go ahead, Jill—tell us all you can, and keep on sending us anything that will help at all."

"I the right and left and for a while—about twenty blocks—that's how I know it was Stanhope Circle. I don't know how many times he around the circle, though, or which way he when he left it. After the Circle, the traffic was very light, and here there doesn't to be any traffic at all. That us up to date. You'll know as well as I do what next."

With Jill, the Lensmen that Herkimer his car up to the and stopped—parked without up. He got out and the girl's out of the car, the to free one eye. Good! Only one other car was visible; a yellow across the street, about a ahead. There was a sign—"NO PARKING ON THIS SIDE 7 TO 10." The toward which he was her was more than three high, and had a number—one, four—if he would only her a little more, so that she see the of it—one four-seven-nine!

"Rushton Boulevard, you think, Mase?"

"Could be. Fourteen seventy nine would be on the downtown-traffic side. Blast!"

Into the building, where two men locked and the door them. "And keep it locked!" Herkimer ordered. "You know what to do until I come down."

Into an elevator, and up. Through doors into a room, most item of was a chair, to the floor. Two men got up and themselves that chair.

Jill's was fast; but not fast enough. The was removed. Her were firmly, one to each leg of the chair. Herkimer four of rope around her and the chair's back, took up every of slack, and a knot. Then, still without a word, he and a cigarette. The last of disappeared, but the girl's struggles, as they were, were not allowed to continue.

"Put a on her," Herkimer directed, "but be sure not to anything at this stage of the game. That comes later."

Jill, more angry than until now, locked her teeth to keep from as the pressure on. She not to the pain; she not move; she only her teeth and glare. She was to realize, however, what was actually in store; that Herkimer Herkimer Third was in a like she had known.

He forward, up a of fabric, and heaved. The and garment, in no way designed to such stresses, parted; across at the upper of rope. He his cigarette to a coal—took it in his fingers—there was an and a of as the was in the clear, clean skin the girl's left armpit. Jill then, and desperately, but her was unmoved.

"That was just to settle any as to or not I business. I'm all done around with you. I want to know two things. First, you know about the Lens; where it comes from, what it is, and what it what your press-agents advertise. Second, what at the Ambassadors' Ball. Start talking. The you talk, the less you'll hurt."

"You can't away with this, Herkimer." Jill to her nerves together. "I'll be missed—traced...." She paused, gasping. If she told him that the Lensmen were in full and with her—and if he it—he would kill her right then. She to another track. "That isn't good to who me."

"She doesn't have to be." The man venomously. "Nobody who you will close to her to tell the difference. This wasn't done on the of the moment, Jill; it was planned—minutely. You haven't got the of the dog in hell."

"Jill!" Jack Kinnison's in. "It isn't Rushton—fourteen seventy-nine is a two-story. What other it be?"

"I don't know...." She was not in very good shape to think.

"Damnation! Got to of somebody who the streets. Spud, a at the Circle and I'll Lens Parker...." Jack's off as he to a local Lensman.

Jill's sank. She was now that the Lensmen not her in time.

"Tighten up a little, Eddie. You, too, Bob."

"Stop it! Oh, God, STOP IT!" The a little. She in a second approach her right side. "Even if I do talk you'll kill me anyway. You couldn't let me go now."

"Kill you, my pet? Not if you yourself. We've got a of the Patrol of, and you keep a man for a while, if you tried. And if you hard maybe I'll let you try. However, I'd just as much fun out of killing you as out of the other, so it's up to you. Not death, of course. Little things, at first, like we've been doing. A more touches of here and there—so....

"Scream as much as you please. I it, and this room is sound-proof. Once more, boys, about an higher this time ... up ... ... down. We'll have an hour or so of this stuff"—Herkimer that to the quivering, sensitive, girl his would be as as the themselves—"then I'll do to your finger-nails and toe-nails, with of double-base and up. Then your eyes—or no, I'll save them until last, so you can watch a of Venerian slasher-worms work on you, one on each leg, and a Martian on your belly."

Gripping her in his left hand, he her and down; almost to her hard-held hands. His right hand, something which he had not mentioned and which was unmentionable, approached her taut-stretched throat.

"Talk or not, just as you please." The voice was callous, as as the death she now he was so to deal. "But listen. If you elect to talk, tell the truth. You won't twice. I'll count to ten. One."

Jill a gurgling, noise and he her a trifle.

"Can you talk now?"

"Yes."

"Two."

Helpless, immobile, now to a of terror she had it possible to feel, Jill her and mind from insanity's very edge; managed with a to lips. Pops Kinnison always said a man die only once, but he didn't know ... in battle, yes, ... but she had already died a dozen times—but she'd keep on she'd say a word. But—

"Tell him, Jill!" Northrop's at her mind. He, her lover, was frantic; as much with as with for her physical and anguish. "For the nineteenth time I say tell him! We've just you—Hancock Avenue—we'll be there in two minutes!"

"Yes, Jill, being a and tell him!" Jack Kinnison's deep; but this time, enough, the girl no at his touch. There was nothing of the lover; of the brother, of the of arms. She belonged. She would come out of this right up or none of them would. "Tell the the truth!" Jack's on. "It won't make any difference—he won't live long to pass it on!"

"But I can't—I won't!" Jill stormed. "Why, Pops Kinnison would...."

"Not this time I wouldn't, Jill!" Samms' to come in, too, but the Port Admiral's was overwhelming. "No harm—he's doing this on his own—if Morgan had had any idea he'd've killed him first. Start talking or I'll you to a blister!"

They were to laugh, later, at the of that threat, but it did produce results.

"Nine." Herkimer wolfishly, in anticipation.

"Stop it—I'll tell!" she screamed. "Stop it—take that thing away—I can't it—I'll tell!" She into racking, sobs.

"Steady." Herkimer put something in his pocket, then her so that fingers-long marks into red upon the chalk-white of her cheek. "Don't up; I haven't started to work on you yet. What about that Lens?"

She twice she speak. "It comes from—ulp!—Arisia. I haven't got one myself, so I don't know very much—ulp!—about it at hand, but from what the boys tell me it must be...."

Outside the three black downward. Northrop and Kinnison stopped at the level; Costigan on to take of the guards.

"Bullets, not beams," the Irishman his fellows. "We'll have to clean up the without a trace, so don't do any more to the property than you have to."

Neither any reply; they were too busy. The two the chair, being openly, first; then Jack put a through Herkimer's head. But Northrop was not with that. He the pin to "full automatic" and ten more into the it the floor.

Three quick and the girl was free.

"Jill!"

"Mase!"

Locked in each other's arms, together, no would have that this was their kiss. It was plainly—yes, spectacularly—evident, however, that it would not be their last.

Jack, furiously, up the and it at the couple.

"P-s-s-t! P-s-s-t! Jill! Wrap 'em up!" he whispered, urgently. "All the top in space is at full blast—there'll be eggs all over the place any second now—Mase! Damn your thick, hard skull, out of it! He's always at the mouth about her around and if he sees her like this—especially with you—he'll have a of lizards! You'll a black and seven hundred years in the clink! That's better—'bye now—I'll see you up at New York Spaceport."

Jack Kinnison to the nearest window, it open, and out of the building.