"I don't remember," Brennt said. Scowling, Herndon said, "You and Mardlin are probably in league. We have to take his word for what he brings us--but always, three or four of the stones are defective. We believe he buys, say, forty stones from you, pays the three hundred twenty thousand stellors over to you from the account we provide, and then takes three or four from the batch and replaces them with identical but defective stones worth a hundred stellors or so apiece. The profit to him is better than twenty thousand stellors a voyage. "Or else," Herndon went on, "You deliberately sell him defective stones at eight thousand stellors. But Mardlin's no fool, and neither are we." "What do you want to know?" the Vyaporan asked. "How many functional starstones are included in the current consignment?" Sweat poured down Brennt's face. "Thirty-nine," he said after a long pause. "And did you also supply Mardlin with some blanks to substitute for any of these thirty-nine?" "N-no," Brennt said. "Very good," said Herndon. He smiled. "I'm sorry to have seemed so overbearing, but we had to find out this information. Will you accept my apologies and shake?" He held out his hand. Brennt eyed it uncertainly, then took it. With a quick inward twitch Herndon jabbed a needle into the base of the other's thumb. The quick-acting truth-drug took only seconds to operate. "Now," Herndon said, "the preliminaries are over. You understand the details of our earlier conversation. Tell me, now: how many starstones is Mardlin paying you for?" Brennt's fleshless lips curled angrily, but he was defenseless against the drug. "Thirty-nine," he said. "At what total cost?" "Three hundred twelve thousand stellors." Herndon nodded. "How many of those thirty-nine are actually functional starstones?" "Thirty-five," Brennt said reluctantly. "The other four are duds?" "Yes." "A sweet little racket. Did you supply Mardlin with the duds?" "Yes. At two hundred stellors each." "And what happens to the genuine stones that we pay for but that never arrive on Borlaam?" Brennt's eyes rolled despairingly. "Mardlin--Mardlin sells them to someone else and pockets the money. I get five hundred stellors per stone for keeping quiet." "You've kept very quiet today," Herndon said. "Thanks very much for the information, Brennt. I really should kill you--but you're much too valuable to us for that. We'll let you live, but we're changing the terms of our agreement. From now on we pay you only for actual functioning starstones, not for an entire consignment. Do you like that setup?" "No," Brennt said. "At least you speak truthfully now. But you're stuck with it. Mardlin is no longer courier, by the way. We can't afford a man of his tastes in our organization. I don't advise you try to make any deals with his successor, whoever he is." He turned and walked out of the shop. * * * * *