"Indeed?" said Lund. "And just who, then, are you?" There was a vague sensation of familiarity troubling the back of his mind. The omnipresent watchdog in his subconscious pounced instantly on the feeling, magnifying it, turning it inside out and shaking it around, but drawing no satisfaction from the act. "A friend, Citizen. You must believe that. I can't explain further right now--time is too precious." He grabbed Lund's arm and started tugging him back towards the Park entrance. "Please? I beg you, come." "Oh--very well." He gave in ungraciously, following the man until they were just inside the Park. Then Lund stopped, digging his heels into the gravel of the walk. The man looked back at him. "Please, Citizen!" he urged. "We don't have much time!" "So far as I'm concerned, you don't have any time at all, unless you tell me right now who you are and what this is all about." "Not here!" he cried, aghast, as he glanced nervously around at the many people entering and leaving the Park. A pair of Conference monitors stopped just outside the gate, fingering their stun-beamers as they eyed the actions of the two men. They started to move into the violable hundred-foot circle this side of the gate. The little man moved quickly, grabbing Lund again and forcibly pulling him beyond the protection of the monitors. Their skins tingled as they went through the shimmering haze of the force screen. The monitors stopped just in time to avoid touching the screen, while Lund and the little man hurried down a path that wound into a copse of widdy trees from Lund's own homeworld, Ehrla. The widdy tendrils stopped their aimless flowing through the trees and curved down and around the two men, tips melting into the ground and tendrils broadening into wide blades that sheltered and shielded the pair from possible watchers. "Now!" said Lund, shaking the other man's hand from his angrily. "Perhaps you will do me the honor of telling me who you are and just what in the name of the Seven Holy Suns this idiocy is all about?" "A matter of the gravest urgency, Citizen! You must not present your plans for redistribution of Sector protectorates to this Conference!" "What?" Lund stared at him in disbelief. "And just how did you learn of the plans I intend to present to the Conference--I _will_ present, at this afternoon session? Something smacks of treachery!" "Never mind how I learned, Citizen. The important thing is the Yano delegation also knows! They plan to scuttle you before you have a chance to speak. After that, they'll cut you into little pieces and devour you!" "You're insane, man!" Lund started to reach for the widdy tendrils. "Don't! You must not present your plans to the Conference, Citizen." A new tone had crept into the man's voice: a strength that belied the pudginess and general clownishness of the figure. Lund turned slowly, and found himself staring at a stunner, the winking red of the telltale showing that it was set to lethal bands.