"Chief, something's happened. Nothing really serious, except that that Damakoi that you left here has been hit by a high-frequency guard beam." "How did that happen?" Ned shrugged. "One of the guards let him walk around. Somehow, he managed to get hit by a beam. We can't figure out how; none of the ways to the guard beams are open. A freakish occurrence. "Holdreth Khain doesn't know what happened. Evidently, he dragged himself from where he was hit. We have him in the Special Room now." I got out of the car. "All's well so far," I told him. "We don't need to worry about the slight burns from a guard beam. They're hard ultra-violet. They won't even touch an Earthman, except after long exposure, and they won't disable a Damakoi very long." "This is worse than that," Ned said. "His leg is pretty badly blistered, and he's unconscious. The doctor says they're definitely guard beam burns, all right, so we don't have to worry about hard radiation." He spread his hands. "The thing is, the doctor says we can't move him." I think I must have stood there for a full thirty seconds, saying nothing. The last little piece of the puzzle had fallen into place. Jedon Onomondo looked puzzled. "What is a guard beam?" "It's a high-frequency ultra-violet ray," I told him. "It's projected across a hall or door. If anyone crosses it, an alarm rings. But in the section where we are keeping Holdreth Khain, they were all supposed to be shut off because you Damakoi are so sensitive to radiation." I turned to Ned again. "It looks as though there's not much else we can do except take Jedon Onomondo into the Grand Capitol to identify Holdreth Khain. We've got to see whether he's our killer or not." "All right," Ned agreed. He turned to the Damakoi. "You'll have to come with me. We can't allow you down there without a complete examination." The Damakoi went along complacently, while I went down below, into the lower level of the Capitol to see what had happened to Holdreth Khain. * * * * * He was lying on a couch in one of the big reception rooms, his eyes closed, and breathing heavily. His leg was bandaged, but I knew that underneath it, the skin was a mass of blisters that looked like a bad case of sunburn. There was a doctor standing nearby, but he looked rather helpless. "What's the matter, Doctor?" I asked. He frowned. "The trouble is that I don't know very much about the alien body chemistry of the Damakoi. I'm as helpless as anyone else. He's in pretty bad shape--I think." I leaned over the supine Damakoi. "Holdreth Khain, can you hear me?" His eyes opened, and he blinked a couple of times. Then he looked directly at me. "I can hear you. But my--my leg hurts." He smiled feebly. "Damn you Terrans and your hellish alarm systems." He tried to make it sound like a joke, but there was more than a trace of bitterness in his voice.