"If I didn't know what I know, I might. So if I land on emergency
rockets the blueskins down below may decide that I come from Weald.
And in that case it would be reasonable to blast me before I could
land and unload some fighting men. On the other hand, no ship from
Weald would conceivably land without impassioned assurance that it
was safe. It would drop bombs." He turned to the girl. "How many
Darians down below?"

She shook her head.

"You don't know," said Calhoun, "or won't tell, yet. But they ought to
be told about the arrival of that ship at Weald, and what Weald thinks
about it! My guess is that you came to tell them. It isn't likely that
Dara gets news directly from Weald. Where were you put ashore from
Dara, when you set out to be a spy?"

Her lips parted to speak, but she compressed them tightly. She shook
her head again.

"It must have been plenty far away," said Calhoun restlessly. "Your
people would have built a ship, and made fine forged papers for it,
and they'd travel so far from this part of space that when they landed
nobody would think of Dara. They'd use make-up to cover the blue
spots, but maybe it was so far away that blueskins had never been
heard of!"

Her face looked pinched, but she did not reply.

"Then they'd land half a dozen of you, with a supply of make-up for