Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Gaylord stiffen. "What's that supposed to mean?" he demanded glowering.
I shrugged. "It seems plain enough to me. All this line about gambling your future—it's a joke. You simply haven't got the nerve to do it."
"I'll let Kruze convince you, then."
"Kruze?" I laughed harshly. "He won't care. Not when he finds the facts put both of us out of the way."
The last remnants of Gaylord's grin were fading. "Listen, you—"
I said, "Shall I play it back for you, Controller? Shall I tell you how it really happened?" And then, pacing a few steps: "You went down to your communications section first, of course; had the sigman on duty put out my all-points order. I know that, because the Stelpa girl sent me a thrill-mill. And unless my order had gone out, she wouldn't even have known I was here.
"Anyhow, you sent my order—and then discovered there was a message from Kruze himself on the hook. Probably it said that if I turned up, you should contact him non-channel.
"You saw that as a good way of getting out of a bad spot with your hide in one piece. So you called Kruze, got instructions to pick me up, and here you are."
Gaylord stared at me as if hypnotized. "How did you know?"
"I warped in without a clearance. But one was on file when I got here. That meant Kruze had guessed some of what I planned and was taking steps. And one of those steps would be to get in touch with you."