"From TTT executive, Citizen," he said briskly. "I didn't think I'd find you quite so soon, but I knew it wouldn't be long, since you didn't wait to get proper equipment for your journey. It is fort for you that this is perhaps the only place in this era where you would not have been taken up at sight for wandering around in unusual clothing."
"How—how did you know what period—"
"We only had to check the tickets, to see which was missing. Have you the knife?"
Mikel brought it out dumbly and laid it on the counter. The man put it in a pouch sewed into his lower garment.
"I didn't do it! I didn't!" Mikel cried despairingly. He had lost his appetite completely.
"Sh! We don't want a fuss here. I am rechecking your timeporter, Citizen Skot. We are going back immediately."
"I—I didn't even know the girl!" Mikel pleaded, remembering Beti French's instructions.
"We shall see as to that, when we get home," said the TTT executive grimly.
Then suddenly he burst out laughing. He laughed until he had to take a small piece of white material from his upper garment and wipe his eyes.