Eskel  Gorov stirred  on his  couch and  opened one  eye as  Limmar Ponyetsentered  the heavily  reinforced  door. It  boomed shut  behind  him. Gorovsputtered and came to his feet.
"Ponyets! They sent you?""Pure  chance," said  Ponyets, bitterly,  "or the  work of my  own personalmalevolent demon¹.  Item one,  you get into  a mess on Askone.  Item two, mysales  route, as  known  to the  Board of  Trade,  carries me  within fiftyparsecs  of the  system at  just the  time of  item one. Item  three, we'veworked  together  before  and  the Board  knows  it.  Isn't  that a  sweet,inevitable set-up? The answer just pops out of a slot.""Be careful,"  said Gorov, tautly². "There'll  be someone listening. Are youwearing a Field Distorter?"Ponyets indicated  the ornamented³ bracelet⁴ that  hugged his wrist and Gorovrelaxed.
Ponyets looked about him. The cell was bare, but large. It was well-lit andit lacked offensive odors. He said, "Not bad. They're treating you with kidgloves."Gorov brushed  the remark aside, "Listen,  how did you get  down here? I'vebeen in strict solitary⁵ for almost two weeks.""Ever since  I came, huh? Well,  it seems the old  bird who's boss here hashis weak  points. He leans toward  pious⁶ speeches, so I  took a chance thatworked.  I'm  here  in  the capacity  of  your  spiritual adviser⁷.  There'ssomething about a pious  man such as he. He will cheerfully cut your throatif  it suits  him, but  he will  hesitate to  endanger the welfare  of yourimmaterial  and  problematical  soul.   It's  just  a  piece  of  empiricalpsychology.   A   trader   has   to   know   a   little   of   everything."Gorov's smile was

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