"Fine, Tedor. I'll send someone over to fetch you. Stay right there." "All right, chief." And Tedor cut the connection. Ruscar had a way about him for getting to the bottom of intrigue. Tedor felt better already. A moment later, the doorbell rang. Ruscar's man? Impossible. Tedor opened the door and admitted a nervous Dorlup. "Barwan, thank heaven I found you. Harry Marsden gave me your address." Tedor watched guardedly as Dorlup entered the room, sat down on a big chair. "Have you people got any closer to finding the time-tyrant?" Tedor shook his head. "Let me ask you another question. At the very beginning of all this you were going to write a report. What was it about?" "The 20th century, of course. I was going to say it seemed that the most aggressive, war-like state here, Russia, was receiving aid from our own time. Fornswitthe started to write it." "That's what I thought." Dorlup mopped his forehead, although it was comfortably warm in the apartment. "And someone killed him and stole it. You thought I was the only one who could have known where Fornswitthe was living. But someone else knew. Mulid Ruscar knew." "Of course Ruscar knew," Tedor declared irritably. "That doesn't mean anything. Ruscar is fighting everything the monopolist stands for." "We'll get back to that. It might interest you to know I'm a fugitive. I escaped from Ruscar in the United States when Ruscar accused me of being the time-tyrant." "I've wondered the same thing myself. But somehow you don't fill the role." "He has enough phony evidence to make it stick, Barwan. You see, certain people were creating too much of a fuss about the monopolist. It was crimping Ruscar's plans. He figured if he could convict a scapegoat the furor would die down, at least for a while. I was his scapegoat." Tedor frowned while he poured them both drinks. "It just doesn't make sense. Ruscar all his life has stood for everything the monopolist was trying to tear down. "Which is exactly why no one ever suspected him." "I think you're crazy, or lying, or wrong--but we'll find out soon enough. Ruscar knows I'm in Moscow. He's sending someone over, as a matter of fact." "If Ruscar is sending someone to find you we've got to get out of here!" Dorlup gasped. "Calm down. We'll do no such thing. We'll wait for Ruscar's man and see what this is all about." "_You'll_ wait, you mean--if you are stupid enough to aid in your own execution. I'm getting out of here." Dorlup climbed to his feet, but Tedor pushed him back into his chair. "You're waiting with me, Dorlup. I'd like to find out once and for all just where you fit into all this." "Barwan, I came to you in good faith! Give me a chance! Ruscar has enough rigged evidence to have me gassed." "Sit still and wait." Dorlup emptied his glass of vodka, reached over to the table and tremblingly poured another. Seconds later the doorbell rang. * * * * *