reason for confidence.... "Miaow!" she reproved herself. Nelauk, to be honest about it, was also a dish. But if she happened to be serious about Brule, the dish Brule might be tempted by was said Pluly Lines. Trigger went over to the window and looked down at the exercise quadrangle forty floors below. "If he's that much of a meathead!" she thought. He could be that much of a meathead. He was also Brule. She went back to her desk and sat down. She looked at the ComWeb. A girl had a right to consider her own interests. And there was the completely gruesome possibility now that Holati Tate might call in at any moment, give her an entirely reasonable, satisfactory, valid, convincing explanation for everything that had happened lately—and then show her why it would be absolutely necessary for her to stay here a while longer. If it was a choice between inconveniencing Holati Tate and losing that meathead Brule— Trigger switched on the ComWeb. 4 The head of the personnel department of Precol's Maccadon office said, "You don't want me, Argee. That's not my jurisdiction. I'll connect you with Undersecretary Rozan." Trigger blinked. "Under—" she began. But he'd already cut off. She stared at the ComWeb, feeling a little shaken. All she'd done was to say she wanted to apply for a transfer! Undersecretary Rozan was one of Precol's Big Four. For a moment, Trigger had an uncanny notion. Some strange madness was spreading insidiously through the Hub. She shook the thought off. A businesslike blonde showed up in the screen. She might be about thirty-five. She smiled a small, cold smile. "Rozan," she said. "You're Trigger Argee. I know about you. What's the trouble?" Trigger looked at her, wondering. "No trouble," she said.