The only way to find aparticular ship—or a particular service center or customs office or supplydepot, for that matter—was to have one of these handy little tags on you. Slidinto the transparent ID slot in a landing jacket collar, the tag's dot codewould be read by sensors set up at each intersection, whereupon walk-mounted guidelights would point the befuddled wearer in the proper direction. It madefor rather protracted travel sometimes, but the Ihmisits liked it and itwasn't much more than a minor inconvenience for anyone else. My assumption had alwaysbeen that someone's brother-in-law owned the tag-making concession. "Anythingelse you need to know?"

I cocked an eyebrow at him as I slid the tag into my collar slot in front ofthe one keyed to guide me back to the Stormy Banks. "Why? You in a hurry?"

"I have one or two other things yet to do tonight, yes," he said as he setdown his cup and stood up, "Good evening, Captain McKell. I'll see you tomorrowmorning."

"I'll be there." I nodded.

He nodded back and headed across the taverno, maneuvering through the maze oftables and the occasional wandering customer, and disappeared through thedoor.

I took a sip of my vodkaline, counted to twenty, and headed off after him.

I didn't want to look like I was hurrying, and as a result it took me maybehalf a minute longer to get across the taverno than it had taken him. But that wasall right. There were a lot of spacers roaming the streets out there, but theoverhead lights outside were pretty good, and with all that white hair heshould be easy enough to spot and follow. Pushing open the door, I stepped out intothe cool night air.

I had forgotten about the Yavanni. They hadn't forgotten about me.

They were waiting near the entrance, partly concealed behind one of thedecorative glass entryway windbreaks that stuck a meter outward from the wallon either side of the door itself. Recognizing a particular alien is always adiceyproposition, but obviously this bunch had mastered the technique. Even as Istepped out from the shelter of the windbreaks, they began moving purposefullytoward me, the one in front showing a noticeable forward slouch.