"How long," he asked Xelia, "will it be before the purchase of the house will be officially registered?"

"Probably within a few minutes. He'll make an official deposit of the transfer as quickly as he can for fear you'll change your mind—since he charged you about twenty per cent more than the property is worth. As soon as the deposit is made, the registry is flashed in all realty offices throughout the planet and you'll be recognized as a resident of Regulus. But why?"

"I want to become a candidate for the Regulusian Senate seat," Manning said. "How do I go about this?"

"Why?" asked the astonished Xelia. "Tomorrow is election day. Even if you could overcome my people's antipathy to Terrans, there isn't enough time to reach all the voters. You forget that we have no visicasting system."

"I could get enough votes if I were the only candidate."

"You're going to challenge Dtilla Raishelle?"

"Something like that," Manning admitted. "Actually, whether I'm elected or not is only a by-product. How do I become a candidate?"

"Well," Xelia said, "there are several ways. Let's see...." He raised one hand to glance at the finger-time. "One method is to have a supporter declare your intention at any organized political meeting. There is one being held very shortly at the home of Brono Pia."

"Do you think Dtilla Raishelle will be there?"

"Probably. Brono Pia is one of his supporters. But—but, Manning, you can't be serious about this. You must know that no Terran has a chance against an Acruxian. Do you have a plan?"

"Of sorts," Manning said. "I think I know what is in Dtilla's precious box and it isn't perfume even though it smells. And I think I know his plan."

"What?"

"It's simply a matter of knowing the value of p to the k power," Manning said, grinning.[11] Obviously he was not going to say any more. "Now, let's go to the party. Will you be my supporter and declare my intentions?"

[11] Manning Draco had arrived at his conclusions by applying the well-known Pascal and Fermat equation concerning probabilities. This, you will remember, runs:

pk = n!/(n-k)! k! pk qn-k

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