The Devagas, naturally, hadn't acted on the king plasmoid's naive suggestion. Whatever it feared was more than likely to be very useful to them. Instead they made preparations to bring both 113-A and Trigger Argee into their possession. They would then have a new, strong bargaining point in their dealings with their dubious partner. But they discovered promptly that neither Trigger nor 113-A were at all easy to come by. Balmordan now suggested a modification of tactics. The hierarchy had seen to it that a number of interpreters were available for 112; Balmordan in consequence had lost much of his early importance and was anxious to regain it. His proposal was that all efforts should be directed at obtaining 113-A. Once it was obtained, he himself would volunteer to become its first interpreter. Trigger Argee, because of the information she might reveal to others, should be destroyed--a far simpler operation than attempting to take her alive. This was agreed to; and Balmordan was authorized to carry out both operations. Mantelish had begun shaking his head again. "No!" he said suddenly and loudly. He looked at Lyad, then at Trigger. "Trigger!" he said. "Yes?" said Trigger. "Take that deceitful woman to her cabin," Mantelish ordered. "Lock her up. I have something to say to the Commissioner." Trigger arose. "All right," she said. "Come on, Lyad." The two of them left the lounge. Mantelish stood up and went over to the Commissioner. He grasped the Commissioner's jacket lapels. "Holati, old friend!" he began emotionally. "What is it, old friend?" the Commissioner inquired. "What I have to say," Mantelish rumbled, "will shock you. Profoundly." "No!" exclaimed the Commissioner. "Yes," said Mantelish. "That plasmoid 112--it has, of course, an almost inestimable potential value to civilization." "Of course," the Commissioner agreed. "But it also," said Mantelish, "represents a quite intolerable threat to civilization." "Mantelish!" cried the Commissioner. "It does. You don't comprehend these matters as I do. Holati, that plasmoid must be destroyed! Secretly, if possible. And by us!" "Mantelish!" gasped the Commissioner. "You can't be serious!" "I am." "Well," said Commissioner Tate, "sit down. I'm open to suggestions." Space-armor drill hadn't been featured much in the Colonial School's crowded curriculum. But the Commissioner broke out one of the ship's two heavy-duty suits; and when Trigger wasn't at the controls, eating, sleeping, or taking care of the ship's housekeeping with Lyad and Mantelish, she drilled. She wasn't at the controls too often. When she was, they had to surface and proceed in normal space. But Lyad, not too surprisingly, turned out to be a qualified subspace pilot. Even less surprisingly, she already had made a careful study of the ship's controls. After a few hours of instruction, she went on shift with the Commissioner along the less rugged stretches. In this area, none of the stretches were smooth.