something about it, but he still felt as though he were being pushed into something he didn't like.

He wasn't going to let himself be pushed; that much he was sure of. Sol Three—Earth—was a dumping ground for criminals; what right did criminals have in organizing a group of their own? And how had they done it?

Yorkan Varr—now John Stern—didn't feel himself a criminal. He knew he had done nothing wrong; the evidence against him in the Galactic Court had been damning, but he knew that the Council of Judges had done the only thing they could have done at the time. He didn't hold any grudge against them; they had done what was right, what was in the real interests of civilization and the Condelari Federation.

Therefore, he felt that any group of criminals who organized against the Federation was definitely in the wrong.

Elizabeth said: "Eighteenth floor. We get out here."

They stepped out of the elevator, turned to the left, and walked down the hall. There was a light on in the office at the end of the hall—Suite 1814. The girl used another key on the door and walked into a room that was bare except for a few pictures on the wall, a couple of chairs, and a couch. She walked over to the wall and pressed a button in an intricate code. Then she walked over to the couch and sat down. She patted the cushion beside her.

"You may as well sit down, John Stern; Matt Skardoth wont be able to talk to us for several minutes."

Stern didn't sit down. He walked over to the girl and stood over her.

"Look, honey," he said coldly, "I've come this far. Now tell me what it's all about. What sort of organization is this?"

She looked up at him calmly and took a cigarette out of her purse. Stern watched curiously as she lit it.

She saw his gaze and smiled. "It's an Earthman's habit," she said. "It's harmless and rather nice. Try one?"

He pushed away the proffered package. "No. I want information."

Elizabeth leaned back and exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"It's very simple," she said. "All of us have been exiled illegally. We've been put on this barbaric planet for crimes we haven't committed. We're organizing to take over the Earth government. We're going to get a 

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