Therefore it was hallucination, a miracle, or at least an interesting trick that this man had appeared at his station. Aron took interest, demanding that the man start from the beginning again as he had missed the introductions due to slight surprise.
"I said I am Karl Rondwell, an agent and representative of the People's Republic, being a member of the Intelligence department of her imperial navy," the man replied.
"The first question is, naturally," Aron said, "How the Hell did you get here?"
A slight smile. "Your much-vaunted defenses that are supposed to be able to snuff out the mightiest fleet, these defenses are easy to pass—for one man."
Aron could see that easily enough. "What is your purpose here then?"
"A deal, naturally!"
"I imagined so. You will have to persuade me, because you can't remove me and take over those defenses. Lack of knowledge of the proper code would trip you up when our United Empire ships came snooping around as they do so often."
"Since we understand the rules of the game," the enemy agent said, "let's proceed with it.
"Let me begin with a discussion of civilization. You may have forgotten something about it in your secluded life here."
The agent went on to speak of civilization, its comforts. Since he was a spy, he had spent a good deal of time in the United Republic. He spoke in terms of a man with money, the plush night spots, the beautiful girls that would be only too glad to be friendly with a wealthy man.