This lithe fighting man said tightly, "You know where we are? Exactly where we are? I'm not sure." Hank said, "In the hall outside the _Sobstvennaya Plovina_ of the _Bolshoi Kremlevski Dvorets_. The czar's private apartments. And how did you get here?" "The hard way," Loo said softly. His eyes darted up and down the corridor. "I can't figure out why there aren't more guards. I don't like this. You're armed?" "No," Hank said. Loo grinned down at his own weapon. "One of us is probably making a mistake but we both seem to have gotten this far. By the way, I'm Inter-Commonwealth Security. You're C.I.A., aren't you? Talk fast, Hank, we're either a team from now on, or I've got to do something about you." "Special mission for the President," Hank said. "Why didn't we spot each other sooner?" Loo grinned again in deprecation. "Evidently because we're both good operatives. If I've got this right, the extraterrestrials are somewhere in here." Hank started down the corridor. There was no time to go into the whys and wherefores of Loo's mission. It must be approximately the same as his own. "There are some private apartments in this direction," he said over his shoulder. "They must be quartered--" A door off the corridor opened and a tall, thin, ludicrously garbed man-- Hank pulled himself up quickly, both mentally and physically. It was no man. It was almost a man--but no. Loo's weapon was already at the alert. The newcomer unhurriedly looked from one of them to the other. Then down at the Russian guard sprawled on the floor behind them. He said in Russian, "Always violence. The sadness of violence. When faced with crisis, threaten violence if outpointed. Your race has much to learn." He switched to English. "But this is probably your language, isn't it?" Loo gaped at him. The man from space was almost as dark complected as the Negro. The extraterrestrial stepped to one side and indicated the room behind him "Please enter, I assume you've come looking for us." They entered the ornate bedroom. The extraterrestrial said, "Is the man dead?" Loo said, "No. Merely stunned." "He needs no assistance?" "Nothing could help him for half an hour or more. Then he'll probably have a severe headache." The extraterrestrial had even the ability to achieve a dry quality in his voice. "I am surprised at your forebearance." He took a chair before a baroque desk. "Undoubtedly you have gone through a great deal to penetrate to this point. I am a member of the interplanetary delegation. What is it that you want?" Hank looked at Loo, received a slight nod, and went into his speech. The space alien made no attempt to interrupt. When Hank had finished, the extraterrestrial turned his eyes to Loo. "And you?" Loo said, "I represent the British Commonwealth rather than the United States, but my purpose in contacting you was identical. Her Majesty's government is anxious to consult with you before you make any binding agreements with the Soviet complex."