The guard stopped at a door. "Adam Stone is armed. He is lawfully armed by authority of the Instrumentality and by the liberty of this city. All those who enter are given warning." Martel nodded in understanding at the man and went in. Adam Stone was a short man, stout and benign. His grey hair rose stiffly from a low forehead. His whole face was red and merry looking. He looked like a jolly guide from the Pleasure Gallery, not like a man who had been at the edge of the Up-and-Out, righting the Great Pain without haberman protection. He stared at Martel. His look was puzzled, perhaps a little annoyed, but not hostile. Martel came to the point. "You do not know me. I lied. My name is Martel, and I mean you no harm. But I lied. I beg the Honorable gift of your hospitality. Remain armed. Direct your weapon against me--" Stone smiled: "I am doing so," and Martel noticed the small Wirepoint in Stone's capable plump hand. "Good. Keep on guard against me. It will give you confidence in what I shall say. But do, I beg you, give us a screen of privacy. I want no casual lookers. This is a matter of life and death." "First: whose life and death?" Stone's face remained calm, his voice even. "Yours, and mine, and the worlds'." "You are cryptic but I agree." Stone called through the doorway: "Privacy please." There was a sudden hum, and all the little noises of the night quickly vanished from the air of the room. Said Adam Stone: "Sir, who are you? What brings you here?" "I am Scanner Thirty-four." "You a Scanner. I don't believe it." For answer, Martel pulled his jacket open, showing his chestbox. Stone looked up at him, amazed. Martel explained: "I am cranched. Have you never seen it before?" "Not with men. On animals. Amazing! But--what do you want?" "The truth. Do you fear me?" "Not with this," said Stone, grasping the Wirepoint. "But I shall tell you the truth." "Is it true that you have conquered the Great Pain?" Stone hesitated, seeking words for an answer. "Quick, can you tell me how you have done it, so that I may believe you?" "I have loaded the ships with life." "Life?" "Life. I don't know what the great pain is, but I did find that in the experiments, when I sent out masses of animals or plants, the life in the center of the mass lived longest. I built ships--small ones, of course--and sent them out with rabbits, with monkeys--" "Those are Beasts?" "Yes. With small Beasts. And the Beasts came back unhurt. They came back because the walls of the ships were filled with life. I tried many kinds, and finally found a sort of life which lives in the waters. Oysters. Oyster-beds. The outermost oyster died in the Great Pain. The inner ones lived. The passengers were unhurt." "But they were Beasts?" "Not only Beasts. Myself." "You!"