"There's one man in there you'll have to get rid of before I can go in," he explained in a swift whisper. "Young junior lieutenant named Dick Trowbridge. He'd recognize me even in this disguise. How'd he ever get here to Sime?" "Trowbridge? Oh, yes, he was sent here from Terra when we asked Prime for a code-expert." "Umm, that's right, Dick was a code-specialist," Hanlon nodded. "He was my roommate all through cadet school," he explained. "It would give the whole works away if he saw me here." "He's our only good decoder," Admiral Hawarden frowned. "We lost our best man. We'll have to use him if any code shows up." "I realize that, but send him away for now. If we get code we can send it to him at Base." "Right, sir, I'll fake an excuse." Some five minutes later Hawarden returned. "All clear now, sir." They started out, then Hanlon stopped the admiral with a hand on his arm. "Please, sir," his face was flaming, his eyes miserable, but his voice was fairly steady. "Please don't call me 'Sir' all the time. It may be that my position as an SS man carries that distinction, but it makes me nervous. A youngster like me has no business being called 'Sir' by a top brass like you who has worked nearly half a century to achieve the honor." Admiral Hawarden grinned suddenly, and hugged Hanlon with a fatherly gesture. "You're all right, Son, and I'm for you. From now on you're simply 'Newton'. Anything to make you ... hey, 'Newton'? Are you...?" Hanlon nodded. "His son." The admiral's eyes glowed. "Wonderful man, your dad. One of the Corps' greatest." The young man swallowed hard. "I think so, too." They had been working nearly a quarter of an hour, sorting through the voluminous papers in the minister's desk and files, when another Corps lieutenant came in, his hand bandaged. "What happened to you, Patrick?" Hawarden asked in surprise. "That blasted toogan bit me, and I had to get my hand dressed." "What toogan?" "One that must have been Bohr's pet. It was flying all about the room yelling and cussing us out. I was crossing to the corner of the room, there, when it screamed and bulleted over, slashing my hand when I threw it up to protect my face." Another of the men spoke up. "Took three of us to capture it, and I wanted to wring its neck, but Captain Banister wouldn't let me, so we stuffed it into its cage and sent it to the Zoo." Hanlon was intensely interested in this, but one thing puzzled him. He signalled Hawarden to one side, and asked in a whisper, "What's a toogan?" "A native bird here much like your Terran parrots, but with even more beautiful plumage, and they can talk much better than parrots. They seem to have quite a lot of intelligence." Hanlon was instantly alert. "Get it back here for me."