The Flight Commander was right behind him, followed by the captains of the Empire's patrol spacers. The Flight Commander caught sight of two of Y's men lying unconscious just within the port. "What the hell's this? The palace of the sleeping beauty?" "You haven't seen the half of it," Gavin assured him with a grin. "They're lying all over the ship like that. Villanowski says the effects last about an hour. Better lock them up before they come to." "Villanowski?" echoed the T.I.S. Commandant. "He's not dead, is he?" "No," said Gavin, surprised at the anxiety in the Commandant's voice. "Good!" growled Samuels. He lowered his voice to a subdued roar. "Ticklish mission. I'm supposed to persuade him to accept a post on the Empire's Bureau of Research. They're afraid his space drive will fall into wrong hands. But Villanowski's such an embittered old goat, he'll probably...." There was a faint chuckle behind Gavin. Villanowski, who had come up unobserved, said, "Your diplomacy, Commandant Samuels, is unique." There was a broad grin on his homely face. "I couldn't think of opposing such finesse." The grizzled T.I.S. Commandant's features flamed an apoplectic red. Then he burst into laughter, wiped his eyes, and blew his nose. "Where's Nadia?" Gavin asked sharply. "Ironed to my old chair in the officer's mess." Villanowski handed Gavin the keys. Gavin passed them on to the Commandant. He gave a terse but concise report, while the men filed aboard and began to cart the unconscious Tri-World agents off to the patrol spacers. Y was found to be dead, the blow on his esophagus having killed him. When the mask was stripped from his face, Commandant Samuels identified him in amazement as the chief of Tri-World's gestapo. "We caught X, too," he said. "We received a flash aboard the flagship that X has been captured in space." "What was he charged with?" "Piracy. Y's men will be tried on the same charges. Tri-World, of course, will disclaim any connection, but she'll have to rebuild her gestapo from top to bottom." Gavin moved aside to allow two men with a stretcher to pass out the lock. The body of the factor lay on the stretcher looking thin as a straw. He was alive, Gavin noted, seeing his chest move faintly. "This gives the death blow to the slave trade," the Commandant began. Then he realized Gavin wasn't listening. Nadia Petrovna followed the stretcher. Her hands were in irons and a guard walked beside her. She passed silently between the men, her black eyes flashing Gavin a look of hate before she descended the gangplank. "Mark my word," said Commandant Samuels grumpily, "that girl will get off with a light sentence. She'll run true to form and sell Tri-World down the river. She'll be the prosecution's principal witness." Gavin shrugged. "Which reminds me," put in Villanowski. "Since the Empire's so anxious for me to return to the fold, I don't want to appear too eager."