A suitcase was obviously missing, a gaping hole like a missing tooth from what had been a row of four in the bedroom closet. The garage door gaped open. A commofficer strode in, saluting as he pulled a printout from his chest pack.
"Gone, sir," he said. Collin snarled as he grabbed the sheet.
"Professor J. Slakey, passenger on the stellar liner Star of Serendipity. Departed…" He looked up and his face was grim. "A little over an hour ago."
"So they are already in warpdrive and cannot be contacted until they emerge." I considered the possibilities. "You will of course be in touch with the authorities at their scheduled destination. Which is an operation that might work normally—but this is not a normal situation. I have a strong suspicion that this suspect is ahead of us all of the way. Contacting the ship's destination will probably do no good at all because the spacer will arrive instead at some unscheduled chartpoint. If you ask me you've lost him, Captain. But you can at least tell me who—or what—he is supposed to be."
"That is the worst part. He really is Professor Slakey. I started a search as soon as his name appeared. I have just received a report directly from the medical authorities. He is a physicist of interstellar repute who was requested to come here by the Medical Commission, no expense was too great to acquire his services. Something to do with retarded entropy as applied to our hospital work."
"Sounds reasonable. Slow down entropy and you slow down aging. Which is what this planet is all about. Was he for real?"
"Undoubtedly. I had the privilege of meeting him at a function once. Everyone there, the scientists, physicists for the main part, were greatly in awe of his talents and the work that he did here. lam getting reports now," he touched his earphone, "that they all refuse to believe he had anything to do with the Fanyimadu personality."
"Do you?"
Before he could answer there was a shouted exchange outside, then the door wasthrown open and a policeman ran in. Holding an insulated container.