many men as you think you'll need."

Dirzed raised his eyebrows over this. "I hadn't known the
Assassin-President had given you a code word, Lord Virzal," he
commented. "That doesn't happen very often."

"The Assassin-President has honored me with his friendship," Verkan
Vall replied noncommittally, as he, Dirzed and Olirzon climbed out of
the airboat. Marnik was holding it an unobtrusive inch or so above the
flat top of the dome, away from the edge of the pavilion roof.

The two Assassins greeted him, and a man in upper-servants' garb and
wearing a hunting knife and a long hunting pistol approached.

"Lord Virzal of Verkan? Welcome to Starpha Dome. The Lady Dallona
awaits you below."

Verkan Vall had never been in an Akor-Neb dwelling dome, but a
description of such structures had been included in his hypno-mech
indoctrination. Originally, they had been the standard structure for
all purposes; about two thousand elapsed years ago, when nationalism
had still existed on the Akor-Neb Sector, the cities had been almost
entirely under ground, as protection from air attack. Even now, the
design had been retained by those who wished to live apart from the
towering city units, to preserve the natural appearance of the
landscape. The Starpha hunting lodge was typical of such domes. Under
it was a circular well, eighty feet in depth and fifty in width, with
a fountain and a shallow circular pool at the bottom. The storerooms,
kitchens and servants' quarters were at the top, the living quarters
at the bottom, in segments of a wide circle around the well, back of