and dived downward.
* * * * *
]
He landed at the big conveyer-head building. There were spaces forfifty conveyers around it, and all but eight of them were in place.One must have arrived since the gas bombs burst; it was crammed withsenseless Kharanda slaves. A couple of Paratime Police officers weretowing a tank of sleep-gas around on an antigrav-lifter, maintainingthe proper concentration in case any more came in. At the smallerconveyer building, there were no conveyers, only a number of red-linedfifty-foot circles around a central two-hundred-foot circle. TheOrganization personnel there had been dragged outside, and a group ofparacops were sealing it up, installing robot watchmen, and preparingto flood it with gas. At the slave pens, a string of two-hundred-footconveyers, having unloaded soldiers and fighting-gear, were coming into take on unconscious slaves for transposition to Police Terminal.Aircars and airboats were bringing in gassed slavers; they were beingshackled and dumped into the slave barracks; as soon as the gascleared and they could be brought back to consciousness, they would benarco-hypnotized and questioned.
He had finished a tour of the warehouses, looking at the kegs ofgunpowder and the casks of brandy, the piles of pig lead, the stacksof cases containing muskets. These must have all come from somelow-order handcraft time line. Then there were swords and hatchetsand knives that had been made on Industrial Sector--the Organizationmust be getting them through some legitimate trading company--andmirrors and perfumes and synthetic fiber textiles and cheap jewelry,of similar provenance. It looked as though this stuff had been broughtin by ship from somewhere else on this time line; the warehouses weretoo far from the conveyers and right beside the ship dock--
There was a tremendous explosion somewhere. Vall and the men with himran outside, looking about, the sound-phones of their helmets givingthem no idea of the source of the sound. One of the policemen pointed,and Vall's eyes followed his arm. The ship that had been transposed inin the big conveyer was falling, blown in half; as he looked, bothsections hit the ground several miles away. A strange ship, afreighter, was coming in fast, and as he watched, a blue spark winkedfrom her bow as a heavy-duty blaster was activated. There was anotherexplosion, overhead; they all ran for shelter as Vall'scommand-conveyer disintegrated into falling scrap-metal. At once, allthe other conveyers which were on antigrav began flashing andvanishing. That was the right, the only, thing to do, he knew. But itwas leaving him and his men isolated and under attack.
* * * * *
"So that was it," Dalgroth Sorn, the Paratime Commissioner forSecurity said, relieved when Tortha Karf had finished.
"Yes, and I'll repeat it under narco-hyp, too," Tortha Karf added.
"Oh, don't talk that way, Karf," Dalgroth Sorn scolded. He was atleast a century Tortha Karf's senior; he had the face of an elderlyand sore-toothed lion. "You wanted to keep this prisoner under wrapstill you could mind-pump him, and you wanted the Organization to thinkSalgath was alive and talking. I approve both. But--"
He gestured to the viewscreen across the room, tuned to a pickup backof the Speaker's chair in the Council Chamber. Tortha Karf turned aknob to bring the sound volume up.
"Well. I'm raising this point," a member from the Management seats inthe center was saying, "because these earlier charges of illegalarrest and illegal detention are part and parcel with the chargesgrowing out of the telecast last evening."
"Well, that telecast was a fake; that's been established," somebody onthe left heckled.
"Councilman Salgath's confession on the evening of One-Six-Two Daywasn't a fake, the Management supporter, Nanthav Skov, retorted.
"Well, then why was it necessary to fake the second one?"
A light began winking on the big panel in front of the Speaker, AstharVarn.
"I recognize Councilman Hasthor Flan," Asthar said.
"I believe I can construct a theory that will explain that," HasthorFlan said. "I suggest that when the Paratime Police were questioningCouncilman Salgath under narco-hypnosis, he made statementsincriminating either the Paratime Police as a whole or some member ofthe Paratime Police whom Tortha Karf had to protect--say somebody likeAssistant Verkan. So they just killed him, and made up thisimpostor--"
Tortha Karf began, alphabetically, to blaspheme every god he had everheard of. He had only gotten as far as a Fourth Level deity namedAllah when a red light began flashing in front of Asthar Varn, and thevoice of a page-robot, amplified, roared:
"Point of special urgency! Point of special urgency! It has beenrequested that the news telecast screen be activated at once, withplayback to 1107. An important bulletin has just come in fromNagorabar, Home Time Line, on the Indian subcontinent--"
"You can stop swearing, now, Karf," Dalgroth Sorn grinned. "I thinkthis is it."
* * * * *
Kostran Galth sat on the edge of the couch, with one arm aroundZinganna's waist; on the other side of him, Hadron Dalla lay at fulllength, her elbows propped and her chin in her hands. The screen infront of them showed a fading sunset, although it was only a littlepast noon at Dhergabar Equivalent. A dark ship was coming slowly inagainst the red sky; in the center of a wire-fenced compound ahundred-foot conveyer hung on antigrav twenty feet from the ground,and beyond, a long metal prefab-shed was spilling light from opendoors and windows.
"That crowd that was just taken in won't be finished for a couple ofhours," a voice was saying. "I don't know how much they'll be able totell; the psychists say they're all telling about the same stories.What those stories are, of course, I'm not able to repeat. After thetrouble caused by a certain news commentator who shall benameless--he's not connected with this news service, I'm happy tosay--we're all leaning over backward to keep from breaking ParatimePolice security.
"One thing; shortly after the arrival of the second ship from PoliceTerminal--and believe me, that ship came in just in the nick oftime!--the dead Abzar city which the criminals were using as theirmain base for this time line, and from which they launched the airattack against us, was located, and now word has come in that it isentirely in the hands of the Paratime Police. Personally, I doubt if agreat deal of information has been gotten from any prisoners takenthere. The lengths to which this Organization went to keep their ownpeople in ignorance is simply unbelievable."
A man appeared for a moment in the lighted doorway of the shed, thenstepped outside.
"Look!" Dalla cried. "There's Vall!"
"There's Assistant Verkan, now," the commentator agreed. "Chief'sAssistant, would you mind saying a few words, here? I know you're abusy man, sir, but you are also the public hero of Home Time Line, andeverybody will be glad if you say something to them--"
* * * * *
Tortha Karf sealed the door of the apartment behind them, thenactivated one of the robot servants and sent it gliding out of theroom for drinks. Verkan Vall took off his belt and holster and laidthem aside, then dropped into a deep chair with a sigh of relief.Dalla advanced to the middle of the room and stood looking about insurprised delight.
"Didn't expect this, from the mess outside?" Vall asked. "You know,you really are on the paracops, now. Nobody off the Force knows aboutthis hideout of the Chief's."
"You'd better find a place like this, too," Tortha Karf advised. "Fromnow on, you'll have about as much privacy at that apartment inTurquoise Towers as you'd enjoy on the stage of Dhergabar OperaHouse."
"Just what is my new position?" Vall asked, hunting his cigarette caseout of his tunic. "Duplicate Chief of Paratime Police?"
* * * * *
The robot came back with three tall glasses and a refrigerateddecanter on its top. It stopped in front of Tortha Karf and slewedaround on its treads; he filled a glass and sent it to the chair whereDalla had seated herself; when she got a drink, she sent it to Vall.Vall sent if back to Tortha Karf, who turned it off.
"No; you have the modifier in the wro
ng place. You're Chief ofDuplicate Paratime Police. You take the setup you have now, and expandit; continue the present lines of investigation, and be ready toexploit anything new that comes up. You won't bother with any of thisroutine flying-saucer-scare stuff; just handle the Organizationbusiness. That'll keep you busy for a long time, I'm afraid."
"I notice you slammed down on the first Council member who beganshouting about how you'd wiped out the Great Paratemporal Crime-Ring,"Vall said.
"Yes. It isn't wiped out, and it won't be wiped out for a long time. Ishall be unspeakably delighted if, when I turn my job over to you, youhave it wiped out. And even then, there'll be a loose end to pick