out an insurance policy for a hundred thousand credits or more, and if I agree to give half of it to this undertaker fellow, then you'll kill my wife. Is that it?"

The Algolian threw up his tentacles in horror. "My dear fellow," he exclaimed, "must you talk like a character on a visiscreen thriller? Rather let us put it this way: You have a marital problem. Your wife's present attitude and actions are an obstacle to your complete happiness. I am an individual who is deeply concerned about the happiness of everyone. If, therefore, you agree to follow all of my various suggestions, I will undertake to eliminate the things which stand in the way of your happiness. There is, you understand, no guarantee of anything; neither is there any cost to you until you have had your present discomfort alleviated."

"You certainly do a lot of talking to say something that's pretty simple," Manning observed. "But I guess that's your way, so we'll leave it at that."

"Good," said the Algolian. "You may put your trust in me, Mr. Draco. Good day, sir."

"I'll wait to hear from you," Manning said.

IV

Back on the asteroid, there was nothing to do but wait. Under the circumstances, that wasn't easy. During the day, Manning went down to the hunting lodge. There wasn't anything to hunt, but he didn't mind. The idea was to get away from Fanya. The lodge was equipped with a number of devices to amuse the idle rich, but most of these were of an erotic nature so he ignored them, since they would only lead his thoughts back to the blonde. In the evening, he usually tried to escape to his room and watch the visicasts. To stay in the same room with the blonde too long was a mistake; he'd soon find himself wanting to defy science.

The morning after his visit to the marriage counselor, Manning and Fanya had their first visitors. A U-pilot ship drifted in and set down on the small port in front of the house. The hatch swung open and two individuals stepped out. One of them was a nondescript Terran; the other was an Algolian, but of still a different species.

Despite his bulky size and the usual three legs[9], he was roughly humanoid in appearance. His head was shaped very much like that of a human. It was completely bald and there were two eyes in front and two in the rear. The slight similarity was helped by the fact that the lower part of his face was encased in a bushy beard. The beard 

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