I must be nonpolitical. The Society is rigidly so; if we let ourselves
become involved, as an organization, in politics, we could control the
System Government inside of five years, and we'd be wiped out of
existence in fifty years by the very forces we sought to control,"
Klarnood said. "But personally, I would like to see the Statisticalist
Party destroyed. If they succeed in their program of socialization,
the Society would be finished. A socialist state is, in its final
development, an absolute, total, state; no total state can tolerate
extra-legal and para-governmental organizations. So we have adopted
the policy of giving a little inconspicuous aid, here and there, to
people who are dangerous to the Statisticalists. The Lady Dallona of
Hadron, and Dr. Harnosh of Hosh, are such persons. You appear to be
another. That's why I ordered that fellow, Larnorm, to make sure you
were safe in his hotel."

"Where is the Lady Dallona?" Verkan Vall asked. "From your use of the
present tense, I assume you believe her to be still carnate."

Klarnood looked at Verkan Vall keenly. "That's a pretty blunt
question, Lord Virzal," he said. "I wish I knew a little more about
you. When you and your Assassins started inquiring about the Lady
Dallona, I tried to check up on you. I found out that you had come to
Darsh from Ghamma on a ship of the family of Zorda, accompanied by
Brarnend of Zorda himself. And that's all I could find out. You claim
to be a Venusian planter, and you might be. Any Terran who can handle
weapons as you can would have come to my notice long ago. But you have
no more ascertainable history than if you'd stepped out of another
dimension."

That was getting uncomfortably close to the truth. In fact, it _was_