They adjourned to Sonya Verrill's suite where the girl, producing her own percolator, brewed coffee.  There was brandy too, the authentic product of far away France, in fragile inhalers.  There were soft lights and, after Sonya had adjusted the controls of the hotel's playmaster, sweet music.  But the atmosphere was not one of seduction, despite the fact that Sonya Verrill had, in her own words, changed into "something more comfortable."  Calver realized, with something of a shock, that the flimsy semi-transparency that did little to hide her lovely body was failing to register.

He thought, Blast the Outsiders.  When I'm more interested in them than in a beautiful woman, there's something wrong with me.

He said, "So Maudsley was one of your people."

"He was," said the girl.  "He was a good man.  He found that being a tramp Master was an excellent cover for his real activities.  Frankly, he was running a sort of economic and political survey of your Rim Worlds Federation when he became interested in the Outsider legends."

"He found something," said Calver.  "I'm convinced of that.  He found something - and it ruined him."

"He wasn't a coward," said the girl.  "He'd never have risen to the rank of Commander in Intelligence if he had been.  But did he give you any clues?  Did he drop any hints at all as to what it was that he'd found?"

"Hints," said Calver.  "Hints - but that was all.  There was something out there.  Something important.  Something that could make its discoverer rich, or powerful, or both.  Something that terrified him."

"But why didn't he report?" asked Sonya, as much of herself as of Calver.  "Why didn't he report to H.Q.?  God knows we've enough specialists loafing around to be able to handle anything."

"How loyal was Maudsley to your Service?" asked Calver.  "I could be wrong, but my own analysis is this.  He found this thing - and he wanted it for himself.  It was too big for him to handle - but he clung to the hope that sooner or later he'd be big enough to handle it.  Of course, the way that he was going he never would be - but, after all, many men allow completely illogical hopes to dominate their lives."

"And what about you, Derek?" she asked.  "Do you think that you could handle it?"

"I don't know," he told her.  "I don't know.  If I knew what it was, I'd be able to give you an answer.  But I just don't know."