“I think we can oblige you, Paul,” the Chief said. “I’d like you to meet Professor Craig, by the way.”

The old man shook hands and smiled. “So you’re the language expert? I’ve heard a lot about you, young man.”

“All to the good, I hope?” Chavasse took a cigarette from a box on the coffee table and pulled forward a chair.

“Professor Craig is chairman of the Joint Space Research Programme recently set up by NATO,” the Chief said. “He’s brought us rather an interesting problem. To be perfectly frank, I think you’re the only available Bureau agent capable of handling it.”

“Well, that’s certainly a flattering beginning,” Chavasse said. “What’s the story?”

The Chief carefully inserted a Turkish cigarette into an elegent silver holder. “When were you last in Tibet, Paul?”

Chavasse frowned. “You know that as well as I do. Three years ago, when we brought out the Dalai Lama.”

“How would you feel about going in again?”

Chavasse shrugged. “My Tibetan is still pretty fair. Not fluent, but good enough. It’s the other problems specific to the area which would worry me most. Mainly the fact that I’m a European, I suppose.”

“But I understood you to say you’d helped out the Dalai Lama three years ago,” Professor Craig said.

Chavasse nodded. “But that was different. Straight in and out again within a few days. I don’t know how long I could get by if I was there for any period of time. I don’t know if you’re aware of this fact, Professor, but not a single Allied soldier escaped from a Chinese prison camp during the Korean War, and for obvious reasons. Drop me into Russia in suitable clothes and I could pass without question. In a street in Peking, I’d stick out like a sore thumb.”

“Fair enough,” the Chief said. “I appreciate your point, but what if we could get round it?”

“That would still leave the Chinese,” Chavasse told him. “They’ve really tightened up since I was last there. Especially after the Tibetan revolt. Although mind you, I think their control of large areas must be pretty nominal.” He hesitated and then went on, “This thing – is it important?”