“Yes, yes. I get the point.” Pavlos was pleased. He had managed to get the information out of Frank without asking for it, and picked up an opportunity to mutter with fatherly impatience at the same time. Such minor stylistic victories helped make a pleasure out of a lazy afternoon.

“So what I can’t figure out is why you thought it so important to show this to me at my apartment, and in such secrecy, hmmm?”

Frank sat down.

“Oh, hell. You know this is low-priority stuff, Pav. Ever since you helped us find that capsule in the Sahara, you’ve known that my main job is to experiment with space-borne antimissile systems. When I started getting strange results in my accessibility studies, I just couldn’t get anybody interested.”

“All right.” Pavlos smiled. “Then I am your informal consultant. Now show me these ‘strange results’ of yours.”

Frank pulled a large envelope from his briefcase. He drew the first of several glossy prints from it.

“This is from the same general region, only about thirty kilometers to the southwest of the corner of that large overlay. I want you to take a close look at this area, in particular, before I show you a bigger blowup.” Pavlos bent to peer at the plateau Frank pointed out, bringing over his magnifying glass.

His smile faded as he studied the photo.

“I cannot say for certain, as your lines of probability get in the way… but it appears that this water course loops back upon itself! It makes almost a natural moat around the hilltop.”

Frank nodded. “I’ve tried to use the newer telescope we have on board. It’s tied in to our experimental beam weapons system…” Almost unconsciously, Frank lowered his voice, although he knew that Pavlos’s apartment was secure.

“I could count the number of black fleas on the backside of a dog with that machine. But it’s a bitch and a half getting the thing tuned properly, at this stage. I’m not at all sure I’d be able to devote that kind of time and effort using it on what’s essentially a side project, especially when NASA’s already paranoid over security. At least I’d like to get some sort of preliminary confirmation before taking the risk.”