Boy began ranging, checking on possible pursuit, or possible ambush ahead or to the side. For a large dog, he was fast.
The effects of Scop don’t last very long,” Dorn said. “How long have you had it in you?”
“About… an… hour… ”
“It’ll be wearing off by the time we get back to the house. Did they ask you any other questions?”
“No.”
“That’s what they were after, all right,” Dorn said grimly. “And they got it. The location of the Dawnworlds. Why do they want it?”
“I… don’t… know.”
They arrived back at Rosemary’s house without pursuit or further incident. In the patio, Dorn Horsten put his fellow-agent back onto his feet. Ronny wasn’t nearly as groggy now, and his speech came more clearly.,
“Let’s go see Rosemary,” he said. “I got those knockout drops in some wine she gave me.”
They headed for his suite, initially.
Dorn said, “She was drugged too. Possibly someone else got to that wine.”
“Ha,” Boy said and was even able to get a tone of sarcasm into his voice.”
Ronny said grimly, “I saw her pop the cork. And she turned her back to me while she was pouring it.”
Somewhat to Dorn’s surprise, they found Rosemary still in bed. He had expected her to be up and around by now, and in some other part of the house.
Dorn entered the room first and blocked her seeing Ronny with his huge build.
She saw the look on his face and said, “I have a raging headache, evidently from that drug. I thought I’d stay… ” Then she saw Ronny Bronston and her eyes widened. “Ronny!” she said. “What happened?”
He looked at her thoughtfully.
Dorn Horsten brought the small packet from his side pocket and opened it. He brought something from it and then quickly bent over her, grabbed a resisting arm and slipped a syrette into it.
She tried to pull away. “What’s that!” she demanded, her eyes fearful.
“Scop,” Dorn said flatly. “I found it over at the house where the kidnappers had taken Ronny. He’d been injected with it. And now we want to know what this is all about.”
She was obviously aghast. “You can’t do this,” she gasped.
“But my dear, I just have.”
She tried to struggle out from under the bedsheet but Dorn shook his head and said, “I could restrain you, of course, until the Scop takes effect in about five minutes, but I would dislike to do it. Nor would there be much good in shouting for help. Barbara is the only other person in the house. And, besides, I could even gag you.”
“You… you… ”
He beamed at her. “Yes, my dear.”
The two men sat and looked at her silently for several minutes. Her eyes began to glaze slightly.
Ronny said at last. “Did you give me those knockout drops?”
There was desperation behind her eyes, even in spite of the truth serum, but there was no possible escape.
“Yes,” she said.
“Why?”
“So… that… my… accomplices… could… come… and… get… you.”
“Told you so,” Boy said. He was seated on the floor, his tongue hanging out, and still panting a bit from his exertions while guarding the return.
“Why did you want the location of the Dawnworlds?”
“So… that… we… could… go… there… and… learn… the… secret… of… the… elixir… of… life… the… prolonging… of… life… indefinitely… and… other… discoveries… they … have… made… such… as… the… matter… converter.”
Both Ronny and Dorn were watching her in horror.
“You
“No.”
“But how did you expect to get these secrets of theirs without antagonizing them? They destroy thieves, and even the sun systems from which the thieves come.”
“We… did… not… plan… to… steal… anything.
“We… are… more… intelligent… than… they… are.
“We… planned… to… reason… them… into… freely… granting… us… the… discoveri es.”
“I can see you don’t know, or understand, the Dawnmen,” Ronny said with bitterness.
Dorn was looking at her contemplatively. He said, “Were all of the committee in on this?”
“No.”
“Who was in on it besides you?”
“Barbara… and… Marvin.”
“They are the committee members who arranged making you our guide and hostess?”
“Yes.”
Ronny looked at the big man and chuckled. “So. It wasn’t your overwhelming masculine charm that got Barbara into your bed. She wanted to distract you so that you wouldn’t be around.”
Dorn grunted at him. “Look who’s talking. You didn’t exactly sweep our girl, here, off her feet either. She was setting you up as a patsy.” He turned back to Rosemary and said, “Why did you wish to gain admission into the United Planets?”
“Because… as… a… member… planet… we… would… come… under… Articles… On e… and… Two… and… United… Planets… would… not… be… able… to… interfere… wit h… our… plans… on… the… Dawnworlds.
“Otherwise… your… Space… Forces… might… have… interfered.”
Ronny looked unbelieving. “But how did you expect to get away with kidnapping me? Obviously, when that came out, you’d have no chance of gaining entry to UP.”
“We… didn’t… plan… for… it… to… come… out.
“You… were… to… be… memory… washed… and… then… returned… here… to… me … in… bed.
“In… the… morning… when… we… both… awakened… you… would… not… remem ber… that… you… had… been… abducted… and… revealed… the… location… of… the… Dawnworlds.”
Ronny was scowling at her in puzzlement. “But how could you possibly know that of all the Section G agents, Ross Metaxa would send me to Einstein?”
“We… guessed… he… would… send… agents… who… ranked… highest… in… intelli gence.
“So… we… infiltrated… a… man… into… a… job… in… the… Interplanetary… Data… Banks… on… Earth… to… change… the… records… so… that… you… would… appear… t o… be… highest… or… second… highest.
“The… plan… worked… out.”
Dorn laughed and Ronny looked over at him in disgust. “What’s so funny?”
“You’re not as smart as you thought you were.”
Ronny turned and headed for the door, saying, “We’d better report to Metaxa. This is bad.”
Dorn said, “He’s in London at some conference, but Sid Jakes is on hand.” He looked down at the girl. “What about her?”
“What about her?” Ronny said disgustedly. “There’s nothing further we can do with her. The Scop’ll wear off in an hour or so. And we’d best let her do something about her chum-pals over at the other house. We don’t want a killing on our hands on Einstein and, if I know you, some of those characters you creamed probably have at least a concussion.”
He led the way out into the patio and headed toward the living room, Boy bringing up the rear. But at that point Fredric and Darlene came through the entry. On seeing the two Section G agents, both smiled and said good morning.
Ronny grunted his opinion of that and led the way to the living room.
Dorn went into the dining room for coffee while Ronny told the story to the two committee members.
When he was through, Fredric groaned and, seated now, put his head in his hands.
“You know nothing about this?” Ronny said, though he had already been told by Rosemary under Scop that
