At 9:24 Alma Dakin again entered the bedroom. A hunch, or a sixth sense, or whatever years of experience in a single field gives a man, told Kirk that this time something would pop. He put aside the newspaper, placed a sheet of blank paper on the cover of a historical romance lifted from the spinster's nightstand, and got out a pencil. A motor whined unexpectedly from the opposite side of the apartment wall and he could hear a heavy object roll with well-oiled smoothness a short distance across the carpet. He decided it was the bed being moved out from the wall by mechanical means rather than muscle, and it was clear to him now how she was able to get at that hidden radio, or whatever it was. For the second time that day Kirk heard that eerie humming--a sound, he realized, that ordinarily would have been completely inaudible beyond the girl's bedroom walls. Suddenly the hum was chopped off and a familiar voice spoke familiar words. "Mythox. Contact established. Proceed." "A message for Orin. Alma Dakin." A series of almost undetectable clicking sounds; then: "Alma?" Despite the fact that the voice was coming through an amplifier, there was no distortion. "Anything wrong?" It was a man's voice, clear, vibrant, young, and with no trace of an alien accent. Kirk's theory of an interplanetary menace lost some of its strength. "I--I'm not sure, Orin," the girl said hesitantly. "There was a policeman at my apartment today--the same one Naia went to: The building superintendent told me." "That's odd. There's no way _you_ can be tied in with her. Or is there?" "Not that I know of, Orin. Unless they've decided to check back on me just for the sake of something to do. If that's what's happened and they've learned I was working for Dr. Karney at the time of _his_ death, they may get an idea the three deaths are related. And once a police officer gets suspicious, he can hound you unmercifully. That's what worries me, Orin. You know I'm not really an accomplished liar!" "Shall we bring you here? At least long enough to build you a new identity?" A pause. Then the girl's voice again: "Something else puzzles me, too. There's no mention of Naia's confession in the newspapers." "_What?_ You mean they haven't released Cordell? What will Tamu say?" "If they have, nobody knows about it. I told you Naia should have remained in their hands until the young man was set free. You don't know my people as I do, Orin--none of you do." "But the evidence? Nobody, not even the most stupid of Earthmen, could have ignored that evidence! Tamu won't like this." "I can't help it, Orin. I keep telling you, Orin: you must use a new set of standards for this world. If its people thought as yours do, none of these unpleasant things would have to happen." * * * * *