"Our strategy failed," the Corpsman said simply. "Verrick had some kind of deception. I think Wakeman had it analyzed before he died."
Rita reacted. "Wakeman's dead?"
"Pellig got him," Cartwright said curtly. "That cuts us off from the Corps. We're completely on our own." He turned to the Corpsman. "What's the exact situation? Have you definitely located the assassin?"
"Our emergency network has collapsed. When Wakeman was killed, we totally lost lock with Pellig. We have no idea where he is. We haven't made any contact whatsoever."
"If Pellig has got this far," Cartwright said thoughtfully, "we don't have much chance of stopping him."
"Wakeman was handling it," Rita blazed savagely. "You can do much better."
"Why?"
"Because—" She shrugged impatiently. "Wakeman was nothing compared to you. He was a nonentity. A little _bureaucrat_."
Cartwright showed her his gun. "Remember this? I had this popper in the back seat of the car for years. I never had to use it. It was still there; I sent a team to get it for me." He ran his hand down the familiar metal tube. "Sentimental attachment, I suppose."
"You're going to defend yourself with that thing?" Rita's black eyes smoldered furiously. "That's all you're going to do?"
"Right now I'm hungry," Cartwright said mildly. "What time is it? We might as well have dinner while we're waiting."
"This isn't the time—" Rita began, but at that moment the Corpsman cut her off.
"Mr. Cartwright," he interrupted, "a ship from Earth is landing. Just a moment." His attention turned inward and then he continued, "Major Shaeffer is aboard with the remaining Corpsmen. And—" He broke off. "There's more. He wants to see you immediately."
"Fine," Cartwright said. "Where is he?"
"He'll meet you here. He's coming up the ramp right now."
Cartwright fumbled in his coat pocket for his crumpled pack of cigarettes. "Strange," he said to Rita. "Wakeman dead, after all his careful planning."
"I'm not sorry for Wakeman. I only wish you'd do something instead of just standing there."
"Well," Cartwright said, "I can't go anywhere. And we've tried everything we know. There's not a hell of a lot left, when you get down to it. I can't help thinking if one man is really determined to kill another, there's not much that can be done to stop him. You can delay him, you can make it hard for him, you can do a lot of intricate things that take up a lot of time and energy, but sooner or later he shows up."
"I think I liked you better when you were afraid," Rita said bitterly. "At least I understood that."
"Don't you understand this?"
"You were afraid of death. Now you're not human—you have no emotions. Maybe you're dead. You might as well be dead."
"I'll make a concession," Cartwright said. "I'll sit facing the door." He settled gingerly on the edge of a table, his popper in his palm, a dispassionate expression on his face. "What does Pellig look like?" he asked the Corpsman.
"Young. Thin. Blond. No special characteristics."
"What kind of weapon is he using?"
"He has a thumb-gun. That's a heat beam principle. Of course he may have something more we don't know about."
"I want to recognize Pellig when I see him," Cartwright explained to Rita. "He may be the next person through that door."
The next person through the door was Major Shaeffer.
"I brought this man with me," Shaeffer explained to Cartwright, as he entered the room. "I think you'll want to talk to him."
A dark, neatly-dressed classified man in his early thirties had entered slightly behind Shaeffer. He and Cartwright shook hands as Shaeffer briefly introduced them.
"This is Ted Benteley," Shaeffer said. "A serf of Reese Verrick's."
"You're a little premature," Cartwright said. "You can go downramp to the pool and the game room and the bar. The assassin ought to be showing up any time, now; it won't be long."
Benteley laughed, sharply and tensely. He was more rumpled and on edge than they had first realized.
"Shaeffer is incorrect," he said. "I'm not under oath to Verrick any longer. I left him."
"You broke your oath?" Cartwright asked.
"He broke his oath to me. I left in a considerable hurry. I came here directly from Farben. There were complications."
"He killed Herb Moore," Shaeffer said.
"Not exactly," Benteley corrected. "I killed his body."
Rita's breath caught sharply. "What happened?"
Benteley explained the situation. When he was perhaps half through, Cartwright interrupted with a question. "Where's Pellig? The last we heard he was around here, somewhere, not more than a few miles from the resort."
"The Pellig body is on its way toward deep space," Benteley said. "Moore isn't interested in you; he's got his own problems. When he realized he was stuck in the synthetic body, he left Luna and headed straight out."
"Headed where?" Cartwright asked.
"I don't know."
"It doesn't matter," Rita said impatiently. "He's not after you; that's what's important. Maybe he went insane. Maybe he's lost control of the body."
"It's possible," Benteley admitted. "It was an event he didn't expect; he had just smashed your teep net." He explained how Moore destroyed Peter Wakeman.
"We know that," Cartwright said. "What kind of velocity is the synthetic capable of?"
"C-plus," Benteley answered. "Aren't you satisfied Moore is moving away from here?"
Cartwright licked his lips. "I know where he's going."
There was a quick murmur and then Shaeffer said, "Of course." He rapidly scanned Cartwright's mind. "He has to find some way to stay alive. Benteley gave me a lot of involuntary material on the way here; I can construct most of the missing parts. Moore will undoubtedly find Preston with the information he has."
Benteley was astounded. "Preston! Is he alive?"
"That explains the prior informational request," Cartwright said. "Verrick must have tapped the closed-circuit ipvic beam from the ship." His cigarette came to an end; he dropped it, ground it out wrathfully, and lit another. "I should have paid more attention when Wakeman brought it up."
"What could you have done?" Shaeffer asked.
"Our ship is close to Preston's ship. Moore wouldn't be interested in it, though." Cartwright shook his head irritably. "Is there any way we can set up a screen to follow Moore?"
"I suppose so," Benteley said. "Ipvic arranged a constant visual beam from the body back to Farben. We could cut into it; it's still being relayed. I know the frequency of the channel." A thought struck him. "Harry Tate's under fief to Verrick."
"Everybody seems to be under fief to Verrick," Cartwright said. "Is there anybody at ipvic we can work with?"
"Put pressure on Tate. If you cut him off from Verrick, he'll cooperate. He isn't keen on this stuff, according to what Eleanor Stevens told me."
Shaeffer looked into his mind with interest. "She told you a lot. Since she left us and went to Farben she's been useful."
"Yes, I'd like to keep some kind of a visual check on the Pellig body." Cartwright fumbled with his popper and finally slid it into a half-unpacked suitcase on the floor. "We're better off now, of course. Thanks, Benteley." He nodded vaguely to Benteley. "So things have changed. Pellig won't be coming here. We don't have to worry about that, any more."
Rita was eying Benteley intently. "You didn't break your oath? You don't consider that you're a felon?"
"I told you," Benteley said, returning her hard stare. "Verrick broke his oath to me. He released me by betraying me."