Walther sensed what was coming next, but he held his breath--waiting for Willy to say it. Willy did: "Perhaps--if you still want to spend more money to pay them--we could persuade some of our group to record...." "A full-length opera!" Walther exclaimed. "Would they--could they--do it?" Willy pursed his lips thoughtfully. "As for willingness--you've observed that your wealth is rather persuasive on Earth. Like most artists, our people spend more than they earn, and would probably try anything for what you could pay them. As for ability--we'd undoubtedly have to record in short sessions. We might even have to break up the arias into sections, because we're not conditioned for sustained effort." "I'll pay them anything to try it," Walther broke in, enthusiastically. "Where would you try it--here in Uniport?" "Hardly. But there's an old inn in North Wales where I once spent a vacation with some of our group. If the Happy Time agents should be watching us now, it would be quite natural to return to that inn." "Maria ... do you think she would?" Willy sighed, and shrugged. "Not for the money alone ... she's quite a perfectionist about her art. But I'm hopeful that by this time...." His eyes twinkled. Walther laughed. "What a chess player you would make! I think you've been moving me around like a pawn ever since the first evening we met!" "Not a pawn," Willy corrected him with a smile. "A knight." However, they decided not to tell Maria the real purpose of the proposed vacation until they were all set up at the inn in North Wales. Walther thought the setting sounded perfect for some personal unfinished business. "Even I could sing an aria in such a place," Willy enthused. Willy began quietly and individually contacting other members of his company. With the kind of payment Walther authorized him to offer, he had little difficulty getting performers for the venture. Most of them thought the project ridiculous, but the money was more than they would normally earn in an entire season. Willy swore each of them to silence. They were to treat the trip as nothing more than a vacation. He made arrangements for the various pieces of recording equipment to be shipped separately from London, Berlin and New York. Willy's pink cheeks were perpetually flushed these days, and his bright eyes sparkled brighter than ever. When Walther brought up the question of which opera would be attempted, he discovered that the shrewd old maestro had long ago acquired Puccini's complete "Madame Butterfly" and had already packed the music for shipment to North Wales. The night before they were to leave Uniport, a familiar, distinguished figure appeared backstage, threading his way between the huge crates being packed by the servo-robot stagehands. Willy led him immediately to one of the dressing rooms. With admirable simplicity, the underworld contact put a proposition before them.