"I sent my man to get it back. Also, I ordered him to kill Hall, because Hall would have talked in order to get starak.
"Unfortunately, though, Hall managed to pass on my address here before he died. At which point, you came and killed my man, and Astrell died of acute catabolic poisoning, and my people attended to that cutthroat Cheng." Once more, Mawson spread his hands in the familiar gesture. "Well, Mr. Ross, I believe that brings us up to date."
"Does it?" Ross clipped. "It seems to me you've left out the most important part: the place where I come in."
"For my part, I thought I was being almost too obvious," the adjudicator came back. "My difficulty is that as a result of all this bloodletting, my own tracks have been uncovered. I'm told on reliable authority that Security's already closing in on me. I'll be fortunate if they don't arrest me before dawn."
Ross frowned. "So—?"
"So, as I said before, I need your help."
Ross shook his head. "I still don't see it."
"Then you're a bigger fool than I thought!" Mawson beat his grav-seat's arm in sudden fury. "Don't you understand? When my people brought me Tornelescu's notes, his formulae, I'd have sworn I had the whole universe in my grasp.
"Only then it turned out that all Tornelescu's data was in an arbitrary code: one figure, one symbol, was substituted for another. Consequently, I might as well not have had the papers.