"I cannot find in my mind the names of any others who might have been in the conspiracy with Bohr," the emperor answered another question. "He brought only one man to see me, with the request that I present him a decoration. It was the scientist who devised the new drive, he said. A Professor Panek, I believe ..."
"Panek?" Hanlon interrupted. "A heavy-set, ruddy-faced, red-headed man?"
"Yes, that about describes him."
"But Panek was only one of his gunmen," the young SS man was perplexed. "He didn't have brains enough to invent an excuse."
"I wonder, then, what Bohr had in mind to bring such a man here like that?" Hawarden frowned.
"Maybe a trick to help throw His Majesty off guard," Newton suggested.
"Or else just a sop to Panek's vanity, to tie him closer to Bohr," Hanlon said. "A thing like that would have tickled Panek."
"We'll have him rounded up, then."
"No need, Sire," Hanlon explained. "He was one of those men who were torturing me, and was killed by the bees."
The emperor looked at the young man quizzically, and a knowing smile erased much of the tension from his face. "I've heard about that incident. Wasn't it rather peculiar you were not harmed by any of those ferocious bees?"