Nadyl's nerves should be in a fine state. Or maybe I'll beat him to it."

He started for the other room only to be called back by the blonde. "There's another ship coming in," she said.

Manning listened and heard it. He came back to stand beside her. "Who do you suppose is interested in your corpse now?"

They heard the ship ease to the ground and cut to silence. Then a moment later, the door announcer sounded again. Manning strode across the room and flung open the door.

This time it was a Terran who stood there. He was a tall man, lean of frame and hard of eye. His clothes were a little old-fashioned, as was the snap-brim hat he wore. His gaze bored into Manning's.

"I'm Mickey Hatchet," he said in a clipped voice.

Manning nodded, surprised. He was familiar with the name.[10]

[10] So was everybody else in the galaxy who ever watched the visicasts. Once every week, year in and year out, Mickey Hatchet waded through gallons of gore and over the bodies of beautiful babes for the entertainment of untold billions. But few people knew the full story of Mickey Hatchet. In the beginning he had been merely the creation of a writer named Spunky Malone—the last of the private detectives. But over the years, as he grew more and more popular, the author began to identify himself with the character he had created. Finally, Spunky Malone had his name legally changed to Mickey Hatchet. Then he arranged to have all the visifilms done in half of each year; the other half, Mickey Hatchet roamed the universe (he owned the only private detective license in existence by this time), fighting evil where he found it and trying to make this a better universe in which to live. It was a one-sided battle, but there was nothing that could make Mickey Hatchet swerve from the firmness of his purpose—nothing.

"My name is Draco," Manning said. "This is Mrs. Draco."

Mickey Hatchet's gaze raked over the blonde. There was something in his eyes that said he might have been interested if there had only been time.

"Caught the vibrations of some shots," he said. "What's the caper?"

"Shots? Caper?" Manning said. "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean. My wife and I were just sitting here talking."

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