And she was murdered."

[2] At that time, very little was known about Algolians. There were several of them doing business throughout the galaxy, but under the treaty of 3106 Terrans were forbidden to visit Algol for any purpose. All the Algolians who had been seen were completely different from one another in appearance and it was assumed that there were dozens, if not hundreds, of different species of Algol, all of them intelligent. Consequently, it was difficult to be sure who was an Algolian unless you were able to see his identity papers.

"I gather that you think there's an Algolian in the moneypile," Manning said drily. "Or, rather, three of them. An Algolian undertaker, an Algolian heart-throb character, an Algolian insurance salesman, and Sam Warren. Is that all of them?"

"I don't think so. All the asteroid-crypts were bought from the same place. There's a Rigelian named Dzanku Dzanku—calls himself Dizzy Dzanku, the Honest Rigelian—who's a second-hand asteroid dealer. He bought up several hundred used asteroids from the Mining Monopoly and has them in a close-formation orbit around Canopus, about five hundred miles from the surface. He does a fair vacation rental business, but he also supplies them to this Nadyl character."

"You got anything tying him in with the scheme?" Manning asked.

"No," J. Barnaby grunted. "But if he's an honest Rigelian, then he's the only one in the universe. You know that Rigel has a criminal culture, so you can bet if there's something crooked going on, this Dizzy Dzanku's in on it."

"Okay," Manning said. He stood up. "I'll go take a look."

"Not so fast," J. Barnaby said. "I've got the whole thing planned out. The way it is we could have this Henry Orbson and the undertaker arrested and make it stick. But that wouldn't break up the whole ring. We're going to set a trap for them."

Manning scowled. "We?" he asked with heavy irony. "Whenever you start talking about what we are going to do, I get a cold wind on the back of my neck."

"Nonsense, my boy," J. Barnaby said briskly. "I have every confidence in you. Now, here's the setup. Instead of going there as Manning Draco, insurance investigator, you'll—what is your middle name again?"

"Melvin," Manning said reluctantly.

"Splendid. You're going to Canopus as Melvin Draco, a tired young business 

 Prev. P 6/42 next