"Lola, we got trouble." said the voice again.

"You're the one that's got trouble," she snapped, turning to face the entrance to the living room. That's when She saw the stranger with a beamer pointed at her. "Uh-who are you?" she finished, lamely. Unfortunately, she already had a very good idea what the answer had to be.

"I'm askin' the questions, sister," said the man, gesturing with the weapon. "You get in there with yer buddy and don't try nothin' fancy." The way he handled the beamer was all the proof she needed that he knew what to do with it in the event something fancy did occur. She went into the living room. There

sat Ernie, in a straight-backed chair facing the tri-vee set.

His arms were bound to his sides, and a wide band of elasteel around his torso bound him to the chair. On the couch next to him sat a small man in an expensive suit.

"Good, everybody's here," said the small man. "Why don't you have a seat, Lola? We have business to discuss."

"Who are you?" said Lola. "We haven't done anything."

"That's exactly the problem," said the little man. "Sit down, please-it makes me uncomfortable to see you standing up." He gestured toward the other chair in the room.

Lola was not by nature docile. But something in the man's manner told her this would be a very bad time to make herself disagreeable. She sat.

"Good, that's very good," said the small man. "It makes things so unpleasant when people aren't in a cooperative mood. I really hate it when we have to persuade people to go along with us."

"What do you want?" said Lola. "Who are you, anyway?"

The little man inspected his fingernails, then said, "My name doesn't matter, but if you wish, you can call me Mr. V. My partner and I represent certain parties from whom you accepted an employment contract some time back.