But the cargo was the thing. Heller wanted that cargo. He was going too (bleeped) fast!

Raht and Terb had callously gone on vacation. I had to think and think quickly.

Then it came to me. The perfect plan!

We would make the delivery. Heller would hand over the letter. I would detain departure long enough to examine the letter in a cabin. Although the first letter was long since sent, I had a copy. If this new letter matched the first letter, I would have the platen because the positions would coincide. And then I could order the Antimancos to kill him.

Wait. I must not let him get any advantage in case

I missed on the letter. How could I tamper with the cargo? This was going to work out all right after all. I went to bed smiling. One way or another, Heller was going to be stopped!

It was not until noon the next day that I got around. Before I retired I had sent a note to Faht Bey that the tug would be leaving on the second, which was two days hence, and I, of course, supposed that by the time I reached the hangar, the crews would be calmly sorting things out for the departure.

Such was not the case!

When I walked into the huge cavern, it looked more like things were being set up for a battle!

Every technician at the base was lined up in the middle of the hangar floor! And the four assassin pilots had their beltguns drawn and trained on them!

The noonday sun was beating down through the optical illusion, making a sort of spotlight on the assembly.

The lead assassin pilot was standing there in his garish and deadly dress with an angry face and a shaking gun!

Faht Bey was running around flapping and perspiring.

I came in through the entrance from my office. I instantly drew my own blastick. You never go unarmed amongst such people in the most peaceful times and this looked like war!

Faht Bey saw me. He screamed, "Officer Gris! By the sacred Devils! Order these assassin pilots to desist!"

I hadn't said a word. But the lead assassin pilot shouted at me. "You have no authority over us!" And one of his copilots trained a gun on me!

"Officer Gris!" wailed Faht Bey. "They claim they are going to shoot technicians one by one until they find the culprit!"

The five Antimancos were off to the side. I fingered the star which hung around my neck. Maybe I could get them to charge the assassin pilots.

I realized I might be in the line of fire. I said hastily, "What's this all about?" Better temporize.

"Sabotage and attempted murder!" shouted the lead assassin pilot. I thought, a fine one he was to be talking about murder. That was his trade.

He turned his slate-hard eyes on me. "Maybe you had a hand in this!"

"You'd better tell me what 'this' is," I said, putting a bold face on it and hoping my voice didn't quaver.

He pointed a red glove at the technicians. "One of those (bleepards) messed up our ships!" His face was as red as the explosion insignia on his collar. "They rigged it with cross wires! If we had pressed a gun trigger to do our duty, our own ship would have blown up! That's murder and willful destruction of Apparatus property!"

I could see why he was mad. He wouldn't be able to do his duty and shoot down the tug. But I walked over to the technicians.

"What do you know about this?" I said severely.

They were chalk-faced. The repair chief said, "Nothing! Those two gunships are locked! We are never allowed aboard."

I turned to the assassin pilot. "There, you see? They didn't do it."

He stamped up close to me. "Then WHO did?" He grabbed my tunic front. "You? Yes. You'll be riding in that tug. You could be trying to save your own neck at government expense!"

My blastick was accidentally against his stomach. He backed up. "Threatening me, are you?" He caught sight of the Antimancos standing in a group in front of the tug. "Maybe you ordered them to do it!"

The Antimanco captain came forward. Bless Captain Stabb! "I haven't received any orders from Officer Gris."

The assassin pilot turned on him. "You'd lie even if you did! You're the ones that will be riding in that tug if we have to shoot it down! And now you are going on a trip!"

Captain Stabb said, "The ship is disabled for outer space. It can only travel on its auxiliaries within the solar system. It is bugged and you can find it. So what's the scream?"

Bless him!

"Then," said the assassin pilot, "I have no choice but to shoot technicians one by one until I get the answer. And if I finish with them and still no clue, I'll start on your crew!"

Faht Bey screamed, "Officer Gris! They'll paralyze the base if they shoot all the technicians! You won't be able to move with that tug if they shoot your tug crew! Please, by the fervent Gods, THINK OF SOMETHING!"

Well, I could see he had a point there.

Captain Stabb said, "The only one that isn't here now that was here when the two cannon ships arrived was that Royal officer!"

Inspiration came to me!

I said to the assassin pilot, "Oh, this wasn't done just today? Have you inspected your guns since you arrived?"

"No, why should I? My target is that tug. It hasn't moved!"

"You only inspected your ships when you thought they might be called into action by the movement of the tug?" I said.

"Yes!" the assassin pilot snapped at me.

"Oh," I said. "That accounts for everything! Now, that Royal officer is really a Crown inspector so I didn't think anything of it. But I observed him enter and leave both of your cannon ships shortly after you came."

"What?" screamed the assassin pilot. "And you didn't report it?"

"Well, he's a Crown inspector. Has orders to shoot all of you. He was snooping into everything, all your private affairs. And I knew you'd inspect everything before you flew."

"That Royal officer? The tall one with the blond hair?"

"And blue eyes," I said. "The very one."

I turned to the assembled hangar and base personnel. I said loudly, "I am very sorry that a crime of sabotage by that Royal officer put you all in danger of your lives. But you can relax. Obviously he did it. So that is all there is to it. You'd better remember to shoot him on sight if you see him again. He is a threat to your lives."

"The Royal officer," they whispered.

"That God (bleeped) Royal officer," said the assassin pilots.

"You can always count on a blasted Royal officer to make trouble!" said Captain Stabb.

Having established unanimous agreement that Heller ought to be killed on sight, I smiled at them. "Now that we have decided upon our course of action if he ever shows up again at this base, shall we get back to work?"

They drifted off.

The cream of the jest was, I was right. I was quite certain it had been Heller. That his action might have included his saving my life as well did not enter into it.

After that phone call, there was some chance he might show up here. Well, I'd taken care of that. Whatever else happened, he would never leave this planet alive. That was for sure!

Those angry and vengeful faces were a balm to my suffering! Now somebody else besides me and Lombar were frothing at Heller!

In the crew salon in the tug, Captain Stabb gazed on me admiringly. "You sure handled that to perfection, Officer Gris." And his little black button eyes gleamed with good comradeship.

"It wasn't anything," I said. "Now let's get down to business." I pulled out a Voltar Fleet grid of the planet and some U.S. Geological Survey charts and pinpointed for him exactly where we would land.

"And then we kill him?" said Captain Stabb.

"That is not positive," I said.

"We torture him first?"

"Captain Stabb, I really think we understand each other. But we have a problem. He has something I have to get. If we don't get it this time, we will get it later."