“Good, I figured you’d have an ‘in’ with the local fuzz.”

“And who do I send the information to, if you’re not around?”

The hood scratched his head, just a shadow of movement. The light was very bad. “Why, I guess you could put it through to Babe Corleone, that’s ‘Holy Joe’s’ ex. That’s Apartment P — Penthouse — 136 Crystal Parkway, Bayonne, New Jersey. Phone’s unlisted but it’s KLondike 5-8291.”

Heller had written it all down. He closed the notebook and was putting it and the pen away. “All right. Too bad his family is upset. If I see him, I’ll tell him.”

The effect was electric!

The hood started to go for his heater. Then he halted the motion. “Wait a minute,” he said. He took Heller by the arm and steered him into a pool of light and looked at him.

Absolute disgust contorted the pockmarked face of Jimmy “The Gutter” Tavilnasty. “Why, you’re just a kid! One of them God (bleeped) leftover flower nuts out here looking around for some free junk! You can’t be more than sixteen or seventeen! Go home to your mama and leave a man’s world alone!”

The hood gave Heller a shove. He spat at Heller’s feet. He turned his back and stalked away.

Heller just stood there.

I myself was surprised. Doctor Crobe was wrong. He had pointed out that Heller would look young. He had said that at twenty-six, Heller would look like an Earth-man of eighteen or nineteen. The health of his unblemished skin had lowered that. People would think he was just tall for his age the way some kids are!

Then I hugged myself. Oh, this was better than I had planned! You have to realize that, on Earth, they don’t take kids seriously. It’s almost a crime for a man to be seventeen!

Heller, after a bit, walked on. It was too bad Spurk had never put a feeling indicator in the lineup. Heller must feel about one inch tall!

There was a bar ahead. There are very few in Afyon — really the place is no city. And the bars are not much. The men hang out there during the day, taking up chairs and nursing coffee and reading newspapers. The dumb proprietors don’t object.

Heller walked in. And I suddenly realized he didn’t have any money to order anything with. I hoped he’d forget he only had credits on him and couldn’t produce them. If he did, I could seize him for a violation of Space Code Number a-36-544 M Section B and even imprison him for making the presence of an extraterrestrial known. I made a mental note to be on the watch for such. That pen and notebook had been a near breach but wouldn’t stand up in a charge. Money would.

The proprietor was the usual greasy, mustached Turk. He was taking his time. The place was practically empty as it was very late for Afyon and the proprietor had nothing else to do. He finally came over to Heller at the counter.

In English, Heller said, “Could you give me a glass of water?”

The Turk said, “Ingilizce,” and shook his head to indicate he didn’t speak it. The Hells he didn’t. Half the people around here did. He started to walk off and then I saw a light come into his eyes, followed closely by a cunning look.

Now, it is a funny thing about Earth races. From one race to the next, they rarely can tell how old anyone is. And Heller might look seventeen to an American, but a Turk would not notice that. They think all foreigners look alike!

At last I began to see the fruits of the rumor I had had Faht Bey plant. The proprietor changed his mind. He reached under the counter and got a somewhat dirty glass and he filled it with water from a jug. But he didn’t put it in front of Heller. He carried it over to one of the many empty tables and pulled back a chair and pointed.

Heller, the fool, went over and sat down. Now, while the water in Turkey is usually pretty drinkable, that dirty glass gave me hopes. Maybe Heller would come down with cholera!

The proprietor went straight over to a telephone at the far end of the room. And then I found out something very interesting: the audio-respondo-mitter, not being tuned to his ear channels, could evidently hear what was going on in the room better than Heller! All I had to do was advance the audio gain. While it brought up the room noises uncomfortably high, you could pick out what you wanted to hear. What a nice rig for spies! Which is to say, the handler of spies. An ambulant bug! I was beginning to really love this rig.

The proprietor just said three words in Turkish: “He is here.” And he hung up the phone.

But Heller was not drinking the water. From his pocket he had pulled half a dozen poppies! He put them in the glass!

Oh, how sweet, I sneered. He had bought the lie that this type was for the flower markets and he had picked himself a bouquet! Well, they do go in for a lot of flowers on Voltar. And come to remember, some of the estates on Manco — was it Atalanta? — specialized in breeding new varieties. Lombar had even once considered bringing seeds back and growing the poppies at home but he had been given pause by the fact that a new variety of blossom always produced enthusiasm amongst the flower fans and one could see these from air surveillance too easily. I also dimly recall there was some problem with a seed virus that attacked poppies. But anyway, Heller was indulging nostalgia. Probably homesick for pretty flowers.

He was certainly intrigued by them. He stroked their leaves as they sat there in the glass. He smelled them.

I lost interest in what he was doing and was suddenly very interested in how he looked. By peripheral vision, a big mirror was showing his image.

They had given him clothes too small! Even though they might not have had his size, I was certain this was intentional. The sleeves of the shirt and jacket were three inches too short. The shoulders pinched way in. They had given him no tie and he had just buttoned the shirt.

Now, Kemal Ataturk had made it against the law to wear Turkish national costumes and had forced the whole country into Western dress. He had even put people in prison for wearing the red Turkish fez. And as a result, the Turks, with no tailors for it, have since looked about as sloppy as anyone ever.

But Heller was worse!

He had gotten cement dust on him climbing that rock. He had evidently torn his jacket. He had mud on his shoes from the poppy fields.

He looked like a complete bum!

Where, I gloated, was the spiffy Royal officer now? Where were the shimmering lounge suits? Where was the natty working cover suit and the little red racing cap? Where was that fashion plate in Fleet full dress that would make the girls faint?

Oh, I gloated! Were our roles reversed now! On Voltar I was the underdog, the uncouth, the tramp. Not on Earth! I glanced down at my lovely gangster outfit. And then I looked back at Heller, a slovenly, dirty tramp!

This was my planet, not his!

And there he was, my prisoner. He had no funds to buy any clothes, to go anywhere.

“Heller,” I said aloud in gloating glee, “I’ve got you just where I want you. And in my fondest dreams, I never thought you could look that bad! A dirty, penniless bum in a stinking slum cafe! Welcome to Planet Earth, Heller, you and your fancy ways. Everyone does MY bidding here, not yours! Our roles have reversed utterly! And it’s about time!”