Were they as simple as all that, though, to release him merely on his promise of good faith? If they were truly altruistic, of course, it made sense; but he knew the Medlins too well to believe that. Darkly he thought he must be part of some larger Medlin plan. Well, let Carver worry about it, he thought. Though he was hungry, he knew he had no time to bother about breakfast until he got in touch with the Darruui chief agent. He signalled for a helitaxi and gave his destination as the Spaceways Hotel. When he finally arrived, fifty minutes later, he headed straight for his room, activated the narrow-beam communicator, and waited until the metallic voice from the speaker said in code, "Carver here." "Harris speaking." "You've escaped?" "They set me free. It's a long story. Did you get a directional fix on the building?" "Yes. Why did they let you go?" "I promised to become a Medlin secret agent," Harris said. "My first assignment is to assassinate you." The chuckle that came from the speaker grid held little mirth. Carver said, "Fill me in on everything that's happened to you since last night." "For one thing, the Medlins know everything, but _everything_. When I went to visit the girl last night she was waiting for me with a gun. She stunned me and carted me off to the Medlin headquarters. When I woke up they gave me some weird line about raising a breed of super-Earthmen, and would I help them in this noble cause?" "You agreed?" "Of course. They let me go and I'm supposed to eradicate all the Darruui on Earth, beginning with you." "The others are well scattered," Carver said. "They seem to know where they are." Carver was silent for a moment. Then he said, "We'll have to strike at once. We'll attack the Medlin headquarters and kill as many as we can. Do you really think they trust you?" "Either that or they're using me as bait for an elaborate trap," Harris said. "That's more likely. Well, we'll take their bait. Only they won't be able to handle us once they've caught hold of us." Carver broke contact. Carefully Harris packed the equipment away again. He breakfasted in the hotel restaurant after a prolonged session under the molecular showerbath to remove the fatigue and grime of his night's imprisonment. The meal was close to tasteless, but he needed the nourishment. Returning to his room, he locked himself in and threw himself wearily on the bed. He was tired and deeply troubled. Supermen, he thought. Did it make sense for the Medlins to rear a possible galactic conqueror? Earthmen were dangerous enough as it was; though the spheres of galactic influence still were divided as of old between Darruu and Medlin, the Earthmen in their bare three hundred years of galactic contact had taken giant strides toward holding a major place in the affairs of the universe.