"I'll come straight to the point, Mr. Cameron. One of my fellow Damakoi--a man named Zorvash Pedrik--is on this planet. He landed in an indetectable one-man spaceship, carrying a theta bomb." I nodded, and I could feel my jaw muscles tightening. If a Damakoi assassin could get inside the Galactic Capitol building carrying a theta bomb, the whole Council would die of radiation. A theta bomb doesn't explode; it flares. The resulting hellish radiation kills everything within half a mile of the radiation center. It consists of two little spheres of ditherium--one positive, the other negative. When they get within a few inches of each other--_poof_! "How is he carrying it?" I asked. "A theta bomb has to be heavily shielded; even when they're several feet apart, the radiation is enough to kill whoever's carrying it unless they're pretty heavily shielded." The Damakoi spread his hands in a shrug. "I do not know; all I can tell you is that I know the assassin personally. I can recognize him." It sounded good, but I still didn't trust the being. His kind were too treacherous and fanatic. Even the ones on the side of the Galactic government were a hotheaded bunch. Holdreth Khain said bitterly: "It will be the ghastliest outrage ever committed by a Damakoi--and that covers a lot of territory. The explosion flare will wipe out the delegates from hundreds of worlds." "I take it you don't approve?" Khain looked up. "My people--many of them--oppose the Multiworld Charter and the Galactic government. They will take any steps necessary to destroy the government. And in doing so, they have left a trail of blood throughout space. "I have long disagreed--sometimes violently--with this bloody policy of assassination, I have personally removed fourteen of the attempted killers." I tried to keep a grim smile off my face. This bird was a true Damakoi; he hated the killer policy, but saw nothing strange in the fact that he had wiped out fourteen of them himself. If he had. "Luckily," he continued, "I happened to find out what Zorvash Pedrik intended to do. I could not kill him personally, but I have been able to get here in time to head him off. I want you to find him--before he succeeds." I nodded slowly. "I understand, Holdreth Khain. It is a noble and honorable thing that you are doing. I'll see to it that you get a proper reward for this information." "No reward will be necessary," the Damakoi said. "The failure and death of Zorvash Pedrik will be reward enough for me." "All right," I said, "let's see what we can figure out." I was sitting right on top of a powder keg, and I knew it--but what could I do but see it through? * * * * *