"Doctor Fox!" He almost shouted it "Doctor 'Arieta Bulldog Fox! What in all the hells are you doing here?"

He was glad to see her-overjoyed, in fact. No matter that for months, back on Earth when he'd first returned from Demu captivity as a mental basket case, she'd been the worst threat to his chance to go out again arid take the fight to the Demu. And to his very freedom, for that matter, she being the boss psychologist and he the reluc- tant subject But they'd worked that out-me bard way, for both of them-and parted friends, more or less. Now, coming toward Tilara into what looked to be a very iffy situation, with no "i" dotted and no "t" crossed. Barton said, "Doc, you're the best news I've had all day."

Up to now, he*d waited through the distance timelags without impatience. This time he got nervous, until the small woman said, "I'm afraid you won't say that, in a minute." She leaned forward, closer to the pickup mod- ule; now Barton could see that she'd aged a litue. Not much, though; t&e vigor he liked about her still showed.

She said, "Get away from those ships. Barton. Don't land where they tell you to.**

Not land on Tilara? He had to; hell, he didn't have fuel to go anywhere else, unless it was damned close, and he didn't know where such a haven might be^or the mo- ment he put aside the fact that he couldn't escape the second fleet's ships, anyway, and asked if she had any ideas about where he might go. She didn't. So then be asked, "Why shouldn't I go in and land, just like I'm told?"

He saw her head shake. "I don't know, really. The ad- miral's close-mouthed in a way; he doesn't ever tell a full story. But he can't help dropping broad hints. And the hint I got. Barton, is that you are in very real trouble."

It didn't make sense, so Barton began trying to sort it out. For starters, a few facts about the second Earth fleet, and how long had it been here, and how come it didn't

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seem to have any weapons it hadn't started with, and- Barton did ask a lot of questions, then.

The answers didn't help much, but he kept trying. The second fleet had landed on Tilara more than sixty days ago. The landing would have been earlier except that the admiral overruled his chief navigator on the timing of turnover, so as not to interfere with the admiral's birthday celebration. "He said not to tell him what could or couldn't be done. One of his favorite lines is that executives decide and that subordinates carry out those decisions." But the way it went, most of the second fleet reached Tilara with- too much big-Vee and overran the planet and had to de- cel and come back to it, quite a bit behind sked. One squadron commander had refused to follow orders and had landed on lime. When the rest of the fleet arrived, finally, that commander was court-martialed for insubor- dination and might have been executed if he hadn't es- caped and hid out among the Tilaran community.

"That was Dupree," Fox said. "I don't know where he is, because it's better if I don't, in case I get picked up by ap Fenn's troops."

Jesus H. Caruso! Barton didn't know where to start asking. Three questions she'd handed him, all at once.

He started with the easy one, and yes. Dr. Arieta Fox had jumped ship. "When I heard a rumor that he might even put you under arrest, all my misgivings came to- gether, and I went to ground." She gave a shaky laugh.

"Literally and figuratively. Off the ship, and into hiding.

It's not as sordid as one might think. Barton. I'm staying in the household of your friend Vertan, and it's really quite luxurious."

Barton shook his bead as if he wanted to get rid of his ears. Vertan? Vertan was the highest-ranking Tilaran that Barton's group had dealt with, when the first fleet had stopped over on Tilara. If Vertan was siding with Doctor Fox . . . Again he went with the easiest question he had left. "Dupree, you said. That's Armand Dupree, maybe?"

That man had been one of the first four, after Barton himself, to fly the original captured Demu starship under Barton's instruction. No Johnnie-come-after should have court-martial clout over Armand Dupree; the man was totally sound, dependable.

But Fox said, "He's the one, yes. He was right all the way, of course, and his performance proved it. But on the

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sixty ships of the second fleet, all five squadrons of it, be- ing right is of little importance. What counts is being on the right side of Admiral Karsen ap Fenn."

Well, he'd known it was coming, ever since she first said the name. Barton chose his words. "Terike ap Fenn, who came out from Earth on this ship, would be his nephew?" Terike ap Fenn, the big lout who had caused a lot of trouble on Ship One. Barton had had to clobber him once; then the man had gone AWOL off the ship and tried to force a Tilaran woman, and got his s^ipid self killed for it. And allowed Hishtoo to get away to Sisshain in a Tilaran ship, complete with hostages. Old-story to Barton, old and sour-but still he had to ask.

"That's the one. yes," said Arieta Fox. "And the ad- miral's still fuming about it, since he heard. That, Barton, is one reason I became very worried, and left the space- port to hide with Vertan."

Silent, Barton thought So here we are. Terike ap Fenn's uncle, the big cheese at the Space Agency, and a political appointee at that. In charge of Earth's second fleet? Sure's hell it looked rancid, to Barton. All he said was, "Fox?

How secure are your communications there?" '

She blinked, and the miniature bulldog jaw tightened.

**There shouldn't be much risk. Barton. Ap Fenn won't have anyhing to do with Tilarans-the Tillies,' be calls them. He doesn't even have anyone learning" the lan- guage here." The bulldog smile came. "I'm learning it, since I left Ship Forty-one.'*

"So you think nobody's eavesdropping. I'd like to be- lieve that" Barton shrugged. "It doesn't matter. We're back in Lab B, Doctor Fox." From her expression, she didn't remember the time she'd tested him past his limits and suffered more than a little bit from his -explosive re- action. So he reminded her. "Anybody that's not on my side. Doc, takes what comes." And he wished he could back up that confident-sounding reassurance. But she was his ally, and it always pays to give your friends a little boost

She didnt answer in kind. She said, "There is nothing on Tilara that can withstand ap Fenn's sixty ships. He has absolute power." Barton only nodded. And eventually she said. "There is one thing. Barton. I don't really mind your calling me *Doc,' or even 'Bulldog.' But my name is Arieta, and my friends call me Arlie."

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Barton thought about it; his mouth twitched unto a grin or maybe a real smile. "Okay, Arlie," he said. "Keep m touch."

"Oh, I shall, of course." On the blurred screen he saw her nod. "But I wasn't finished yet; I have some more information you might be able to use. And besides, it's good to talk with someone who's outside of this mess."

Outside it? Maybe not for long. Barton said, "Let's hear the news. And how do you like Tilara so far?"

Incredibly, the boss-lady psychologist giggled. "You've been here; you know the local customs. Can you imagine what it was like. Barton, to attend a Tilaran party with no advance briefing?"

Barton could; by effort, he kept a straight face while Doctor Arieta Fox described her experience.

"... reached up under that short Mickey Mouse robe they had us all wearing, and put his hand on me, all the time speaking with utmost courtesy-Barton, I have never been so totally dumbfounded in my entire life! I knew the language a little already. He was saying, 'If you are of the wish to be with me, I am of that wish, also.'

And feeling me."

"It can be a jar, yeh," Barton said. "But that's Tilara for you. So what did you do? Not slap the guy, I hope."

"Of course not! What do you think I am? A prude?"

Barton decided he'd better not ask any further on that.

He said, "You mentioned more news."

Somehow, Fox looked disappointed. She said, "That party, I think, is where things went bad between the ad- miral and the Tilarans. He showed up the next morning with a black eye and a gashed cheek, and since then he hasn't given the local authorities the time of day if he could help it. I think perhaps he misjudged the situation and made a wrong move. And Karsen ap Fenn is not a forgiving man."

"I can imagine," Barton said, and thought, that the men of the ap Fenn family sure played hell when they ran up against free-minded women. "So from there, what's happened?"

Colors on the screen were still wrong; Doctor Fox's face went to a darker green. "I didn't get back to the ship the next day," she said, "so I missed his conference, with all officers above the grade of lieutenant-commander. But the decision, I understand, was to stay on Tilara until word came from the first fleet." Barton saw the woman

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shrug. "That's the extent of my knowledge," she said.

"Except that the admiral has a new mistress now. Some- body your fleet left behind on Tilara. After the party, he moved her in. A skinny blonde, I'm told; I haven't seen

her."

Barton had, but not lately. All he said was, ''Thanks, Arlie. Like we were saying, let's keep this channel open, and talk later."

They signed off, and Barton thought. The blonde had to be Helaise Renzel. and he'd consider her later. Power plays, again! And he got the idea that while Tarleton had got the first fleet out before the military .could lay hooks oa it, the second flotilla hadn't been so lucky. AU officers above the grade of lieutenant-commander? Well, so it went. On Tilara, Karsen ap Fenn had a real live hierar- chy going.

No way to cope with it, certainly, from out here. If at all. Barton turned his mind to the present moment, which was where it usually worked best, anyway. And opened the floor to debate.

"The thing is," said Barton, "I don't have any answers.

There's not enough to go on." They still sat in the control room. The other two Tilarans had joined the group-lean, grave Gerain and his most needful person, the young woman livajj. Ship One had a full quorum. At the mo- ment, the quorum was eating.

"Unless you wish it. Barton," Limila said, "you need not submit yourself to the mercies of this self-styled ad- miral." Against the light in her eyes shone silver. "As we have discussed-1*

"Yen, I know." They'd discussed it, all right. If he threw Ship One on max decel, briefly, and then flipped over and attacked? Laser, ion beam, plasma- gun, and three high-drive torpedoes, against three ships? Maybe it could work. "But don't forget, one of our torpedoes is a dummy, nothing but a solid projectile." Because Abdul had had to pull the guts out of it, after the abortive space fight with Hishtoo on the way to Sisshain, to put the ship's Shield back in working order against the sleep-gun. Bar- ton didn't go through that part again; they all knew it.

*tThat's not the problem," he said now. "What is, is that we don't know we're in that kind of trouble, to justify an attack."

**I would tend," said Abdul Muhammed, "to give great