Eventually, however, he approached Trenco and located, without difficulty, the patrol's space port. Fortunately, it was then at about eleven o'clock, so that he did not have to wait long to land. He drove downward inert, sending a thought ahead of him: "Lensman of Trenco Space Port—Tregonsee or his relief? Lensman Kinnison of Sol III asking permission to land."
"It is Tregonsee," came back the thought. "Welcome, Kinnison. You are on the correct line. You have, then, perfected an apparatus to see truly in this distorting medium?"
"I didn't perfect it—it was given to me."
The landing bars lashed out, seized the speedster, and eased her down into the lock; and, as soon as she had been disinfected, Kinnison went into consultation with Tregonsee. The Rigellian was a highly important factor in the Tellurian's scheme; and, since he was also a Lensman, he was to be trusted implicitly.
Therefore, Kinnison told him briefly what occurred and what he had it in mind to do, concluding: "So you see, I need about fifty kilograms of thionite. Not fifty milligrams, or even grams, but fifty kilograms; and, since there probably isn't that much of the stuff loose in the whole galaxy, I came over here to ask you to make it for me."
Just like that. Calmly asking a Lensman, whose sworn duty it was to kill any being even attempting to gather a single Trenconian plant, to make for him more of the prohibited drug than was ordinarily processed throughout the galaxy during a solarian month! It would be just such an errand were one to walk into the treasury department in Washington and inform the chief of the narcotics bureau, quite nonchalantly, that he had dropped in to pick up ten tons of heroin! But Tregonsee did not flinch or question—he was not even surprised. This was a gray Lensman, and his plan would work.
"That should not be too difficult," Tregonsee replied, after a moment's study. "We have several thionite processing units, confiscated from zwilnik ships and not yet picked up by headquarters; and all of us are, of course, quite familiar with the technique of extracting and purifying the drug."
He issued orders and shortly Trenco Space Port presented the astounding spectacle of a full crew of the Galactic Patrol devoting its every energy to the whole-hearted breaking of the one law it was supposed most rigidly, and without fear or favor, to enforce!
It was a little after noon, the calmest hour of Trenco's day. The wind had died to "nothing"; which, on that planet, meant that a strong man could stand against it; could even, if he were agile as well as strong, walk about in it. Therefore, Kinnison donned his light armor and was soon busily harvesting the purple-leaved plants, which, he had been informed, were the richest sources of thionite.