Gore said, "You'll eat with him--excuse the expression; sorry--and sleep with him in the same room; all that. He has no bodyguard, normally. But we have a lot of people out here holding deep grudges toward the Uditi. Not that they don't in the F.N.M., but that's not our problem." He added, "Roberts hasn't asked for this, but we're not about to consult him. Whether he likes it or not he's going to get twenty-four hour protection while he's in our jurisdiction." Gore's tone was bureaucratic and stony.

"I gather we won't be relieved."

"You'll stagger your wake-sleep cycle, the four of you. But no; except for that you'll be with him all the time. It's only for forty-eight or seventy-two hours; whichever he chooses. He hasn't decided. But you probably know that; you read the 'papes."

Tinbane said, "I don't like him."

"Too bad for you. But that's not going to affect Roberts much; I doubt if he cares. He's got plenty of followers out here, and he'll get the curiosity crowd. He can survive your opinion. Anyhow, what do you know about him? You've never met him."

"My wife likes him."

Gore grinned. "Well, he can probably endure that, too. I get your point, though. It is a fact that a major part of his following are women. That seems to be generally the case. I have our file on Ray Roberts; I think you should read it over before he shows up. You can do it on your own time. You'll be interested; there're some strange things in there, things he's said and done, what Udi believes. We're allowing that communal drug experience, you know, even though it's technically illegal. That's what it is: a drug orgy; the religious aspect is just fabrication, just window-dressing. He's a weird and violent man--at least so we view him. I guess his followers don't find him so. Or maybe they do and they like it." Gore tapped a locked green metal box at the far edge of his desk. "You'll see when you've read this--all the crimes he's sanctioned for those gunsels of his, those Offspring of Might, to do." He pushed the box toward Tinbane. "And after this, I want you to go to the People's Topical Library, Section A or B. For more."