Time Crime

  Part 2

  It was full daylight, but the sun was hidden; a thin rain fell on thelanding around at Police Terminal Dhergabar Equivalent when Vall andDalla left the rocket. Across the black lavalike pavement, they couldsee the bulky form of Tortha Karf, hunched under a long cloak, withhis flat cap pulled down over his brow. He shook hands with Vall andkissed cheeks with Dalla when they joined him.

  "Car's over here," he said, nodding toward the waiting vehicle."Yesterday wasn't one of our better days, was it?"

  "No. It wasn't." Vall agreed. They climbed into the car, and thedriver lifted straight up to two thousand feet and turned, soaringdown to land on the Chief's Headquarters Building, a mile away. "We'renot completely stopped, sir. Ranthar Jard is working on a few ideasthat may lead him to the Kholghoor time lines where the Wizard Tradersare operating. If we can't get them through their output, we may nailthem at the intake."

  "Unless they've gotten the wind up and closed down all theiroperations," Tortha Karf said.

  "I doubt if they've done that, Chief," Vall replied. "We don't knowwho these people are, of course, and it's hard to judge theirreactions, but they're willing to take chances for big gains. Ibelieve they think they're safe, now that they've closed out thecompromised time line and killed the only witness against them."

  "Well, what's Ranthar Jard doing?"

  "Trying to locate the sub-sector and probability belt from what theslaves can tell him about their religious beliefs, about the localking, and the prince of Jhirda, and the noble families of theneighborhood," Vall said. "When he has it localized as closely as hecan, he's going to start pelting the whole paratemporal area withphotographic auto-return balls dropped from aircars on Police Terminalover the spatial equivalents of a couple of Croutha-conquered cities.As soon as he gets a photo that shows Croutha with firearms, he'llhave a Wizard Trader time line."

  "Sounds simple," the Chief said. The car landed, and he helped Dallaout. "I suppose both you and he know how many chances against one hehas of finding anything." They went over to an antigrav-shaft andfloated down to the floor on which Tortha Karf had a duplicate of theoffice in the Paratime Building on Home Time Line. "It's the onlychance we have, though."

  "There's one thing that bothers me," Dalla said, as they entered theoffice and went back behind the horseshoe-shaped desk. "I understandthat the news about this didn't break on Home Time Line till the latemorning of One-Six-One Day. Nebu-hin-Abenoz was murdered at about 1700local time, which would be 0100 this morning Dhergabar time. Thatwould give this gang fourteen hours to hear the news, transmit it totheir base, and get these three men hypno-conditioned, disguised,transposed to this Esaron Sector time line, and into Careba." Sheshook her head. "That's pretty fast work."

  Tortha Karf looked sidewise at Verkan Vall. "Your girl has the makingsof a cop, Vall," he commented.

  "She's been a big help, on Esaron and Kholghoor Sectors," Vall said."She wants to stay with it and help me; I'll be very glad to have herwith me."

  Tortha Karf nodded. He knew, too, that Dalla wouldn't want to have togo back to Home Time Line and wait the long investigation out.

  "Of course; we can use all the help we can get. I think we can get alot from Dalla. Fix her up with some kind of a title and policestatus--technical-expert, assistant, or something like that." Heclasped hands, man-fashion, with her. "Glad to have you on the copswith us, Dalla," he said. Then he turned to Vall. "There was almosttwenty-four hours between the time I heard about this and when thisblasted Yandar Yadd got hold of the story. Of all the infernal,irresponsible--" He almost choked with indignation. "And it wasanother fourteen hours between the time Skordran sent in his reportand I heard about it."

  "Golzan Doth sent in a report to his company about the same timeSkordran Kirv made his first report to his Sector-Regional Subchief."Vall mentioned.

  "That might be it," Tortha Karf considered. "I wish there were anotherexplanation, because that implies a very extensive intelligencenetwork, which means a big organization. But I'm afraid that's it. Iwish I could pull in everybody in Consolidated Outtime Foodstuffs whohandled that report, and narco-hypnotize them. Of course, we can't dothings like that on Home Time Line, and with the political situationwhat it is now--"

  "Why, what's been happening, Chief?"

  Tortha Karf swore with weary bitterness. "Salgath Trod's what's beenhappening. At first, after Yandar Yadd broke the story on the air,there was just a lot of unorganized Opposition sniping in Council;Salgath waited till the middle of the afternoon, when the Managementmembers were beginning to rally, and took the floor. The Centrists andRight Moderates were trying the appeal-to-reason approach; that did asmuch good as trying to put out a Fifth Level forest fire with ahand-extinguisher. Finally. Salgath got a motion of censure againstthe Management recognized. That means a confidence vote in ten days.Salgath has a rabble of Leftists and dissident Centrists with him; Idoubt if he can muster enough votes to overturn the Management, butit's going to make things rough for us."

  "Which may be just the reason Salgath started this uproar," Vallsuggested.

  "That," Tortha Karf said, "is being considered; there is a discreetinquiry being made into Salgath Trod's associates, his sources ofincome, and so on. Nothing has turned up as yet, but we have hopes."

  "I believe," Vall said, "that we have a better chance right on HomeTime Line than outtime."

  Tortha Karf looked up sharply. "So?" he asked.

  Vall was stuffing tobacco into a pipe. "Yes. Chief. We have a bigcriminal organization--let's call it the Slave Trust, for aconvenience-label. The people who run it aren't stupid. The fact thatthey've been shipping slaves to the Esaron Sector for ten years beforewe found out about it proves that. So does the speed with which theygot rid of this Nebu-hin-Abenoz, right in front of a pair of ourdetectives. For that matter, so does the speed with which they movedin to exploit this Croutha invasion of Kholghoor Sector India.

  "Well, I've studied illegal and subversive organizations all overparatime, and among the really successful ones, there are a fewuniform principles. One is cellular organization--small groups, actingin isolation from one another, cooeperating with other cells butignorant of their composition. Another is the principle of no upwardcontact--leaders contacting their subordinates through contact-blocksand ignorant intermediaries. And another is a willingness to kill offanybody who looks like a potential betrayer or forced witness. Thelate Nebu-hin-Abenoz, for instance.

  "I'll be willing to bet that if we pick up some of these WizardTraders, say, or a gang that's selling slaves to some Nebu-hin-Abenozpersonality on some other time line, and narco-hypnotize them, allthey'll be able to do will be name a few immediate associates, and thegroup leader will know that he's contacted from time to time by somestranger with orders, and that he can make emergency contacts onlythrough some blind accommodation-address. The men who are running thisare right on Home Time Line, many of them in positions of prominence,and if we can catch one of them and narco-hyp him, we can start achain-reaction of disclosures all through this Slave Trust."

  "How are we going to get at these top men?" Tortha Karf wanted toknow. "Advertise for them on telecast?"

  "They'll leave traces; they won't be able to avoid it. I think, rightnow, that Salgath Trod is one of them. I think there are otherprominent politicians, and business people. Look for irregularitiesand peculiarities in outtime currency-exchange transactions. Forinstance, to sections in Esaron Sector _obus_. Or big gold bulliontransactions."

  "Yes. And if they have any really elaborate outtime bases, they'llneed equipment that can only be gotten on Home Time Line," Tortha Karfadded. "Paratemporal conveyer parts, and field-conductor mesh. Youcan't just walk into a hardware store and buy that sort of thing."

  Dalla leaned forward to drop her cigarette ash into a tray.

  "Try looking into the Bureau of Psychological Hygiene," she suggested."That's where you'll really strike it rich."

  Vall and Tortha Karf both turned abruptly and looked at her for ani
nstant.

  "Go on," Tortha Karf encouraged. "This sounds interesting."

  "The people back of this," Dalla said, "are definitely classifiable ascriminals. They may never perform a criminal act themselves, but theygive orders for and profit from such acts, and they must possess themotivation and psychology of criminals. We define people as criminalswhen they suffer from psychological aberrations of an antisocialcharacter, usually paranoid--excessive egoism, disregard for therights of