In moment the screen lit up. An elderly agent, as Section G agents seemed to go, looked up at them.
Mouley Hassan held his silver badge so the other could see it and on the Avalon agent's nod said, “I'm Hassan from New Delos. We've just had a crisis here and there seems to be a chance that it's a Tommy Paine job. Agent Bronston here is on an assignment tracking him down. I'll turn it over to Bronston.”
The Avalon agent nodded again, and looked at Ronny.
Ronny said urgently, “We haven't the time to give you details, but every indication is that Paine is on a UP spacecraft with Avalon as its destination. There are only ten men aboard, and six of them are Section G operatives.”
The other pursed his lips. “I see. You think you have the old fox cornered, eh?”
“Possibly,” Ronny said. “There are various ifs. Miss Tog and I can double check here. Then as soon as we can clear exit visas, we'll make immediate way for Avalon.”
The Avalon Section G agent said, “I haven't the authority to control the movements of other agents, they have as high rank as I have,” he added, expressionlessly, “and probably higher than yours.”
Ronny said, “But the four-man crew?”
The other said, “These men are coming to Avalon to work on a job that will take at least six months. We'll make a routine check, and I'll try and make sure the whole ten will still be on Avalon when and if you arrive.”
They had to be satisfied with that. They checked all ways from the middle, nor did it take long. There was no doubt. If this was a Tommy Paine job, and it almost surely was, then there was only one way in which he could have escaped from the planet and that was by the single spacecraft that had left, destination Avalon. He was not on the planet, that was definite Ronny felt. A stranger on New Delos was as conspicuous as a walrus in a goldfish bowl. There simply were no such.