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."I hardly thought that you'd have arrested the man before Iarrived with the warrant."The blushing man let his jaw drop slightly, and then he began to gather himself together.But Soulier wasn't going to hang around while this thing was sorted right out from under his nose.He cutin before the cop had got halfway through identifying himself, and interposed his bulk between Dentonand the desk."Who the hell do you think you are?" he demanded.All my illusions were shattered.He'd seemed such anice, clever, self-controlled man."I'm Commander Denton," said my rescuer-he appeared to have come in for some fast promotion."Ihave a warrant for the apprehension of a man called Grainger." He dug into his pocket and brought out agrey envelope.Soulier reached for it but Denton moved it slickly out of his reach."Who is this man?" he demanded of the desk attendant"You know damn well who I am," said Soulier."And you can't have Grainger.He's been arrested forjumping ship and he has to stand trial here." Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html"The charge was dropped," I put in."No it wasn't," said Haeckel, who appeared to have caught on to the fact that he was about to wake upfrom his dream of avarice."I only said I might drop it when I thought it over.The charges stand.""He bribed the cop, too," I said.Not that it was relevant, but I felt that it might help the discussion along.Denton reached out his hand and eased Soulier to one side.He presented the warrant to the man at thedesk and said, "I demand that you release the man called Grainger into my custody instantly.Whether ornot he has committed a minor offence on this world is quite immaterial.You'll find that my warrant takesprecedence.If you care to check the papers you'll find everything in order.You may, if you wish, applyfor him to be extradited from New Alexandria in order to face charges here, once he has been triedthere.""I'll have to check with the chief," said the desk cop."Do it now," said Denton."Yes, sir," said the cop, and moved back from the desk into the small room where the communicationspanel was situated.Denton moved past Soulier to stand in front of me.Haeckel took an instinctive stepbackward.Soulier suddenly looked rather isolated in the middle of the floor."I thought you were Titus Charlot's bodyguard," I said."Promotion," he told me."I'm an odd-job man now.""So Titus wants me home."Denton shook his head slightly."Titus doesn't want Caradoc to get a tape of your memory.He feels thatit would embarrass him.We could hardly have anticipated anything along these lines, but nobody cankeep anything secret these days.We caught on, and we moved as fast as we could.""You came out in the Swan? "He shook his head."The Swan's in dry dock," he said."Not in use.No crew.Titus has the sister ship upin the air now, and he's taken it for a little spin around the inner rim.Place called Darlow.Observationand experiment You know it?"I'd never heard of it, and I said so.I asked him exactly what was going to happen to me once he got meoff Erica and away from Caradoc.Soulier came back in at this point."I'd like to hear the answer to that as well," he said."This man is anemployee of the Caradoc Company.""Like hell I am," I protested."Yes you are," he insisted."We bought your ship.""Haeckel said you chartered it!" We both turned to the captain for confirmation. Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html"We own it," said Soulier definitely."Don't we, Captain?"Haeckel hesitated, open-mouthed."It's not his to sell," Sam intervened."He can't sell it.""He's the authorised agent of his owners," said Soulier smoothly."And he sold the ship to me on theirbehalf last night.For thirty-five thousand." He looked at Haeckel like a snake hypnotising a rabbit.Haeckels eyes flickered away, resting first on my face and then on Denton's.He licked his lips andweighed his chances, while everybody waited to hear what he had to say."You bought it," he said, and then added, "for forty-five thousand."Soulier looked as if he wanted to kick the captain in the face."Moron," commented Sam.He put his face close to my ear and whispered, "That extra ten thou will goto the owners.He'd have got more kickback from Soulier than he will from them." I agreed with him.Haeckel was a bit of an idiot."It makes no difference who the hell owns the ship," I said."I resign.I'm entitled.""Can't you understand," said Denton, who sounded tired in the face of all this desperate wrangling, "thatit doesn't matter at all.It makes not the slightest difference.He's under arrest and he's going back to NewAlexandria with me.Things can be sorted out there.Things will have to be sorted out there."I felt like a parcel with an obscure address."Any claim," continued Denton, "by the police on this world, or by anyone else, will have to come up tothe court at Civitas Solis on New Alexandria.There it will be dealt with properly and legally.""Want to bet on your chances?" I asked Soulier
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