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the corridor. He went into a room which contained a number of telescreens with men in front of most of them. Going to one that was not occupied, he twirled the dials for a few seconds, and the face of his quarry swam into focus. They were just driving up to the elevators at the end of the corridor. His face disappeared and an elevator door came on for a second, showing a sign "Platinumrest Hotel" above it. There was a few seconds wait, and his face came into view again in the elevator. In the lobby of the hotel several levels above, the man at the screen watched him register and when he entered his room, he was in plain sigh of the viewer.

After watching him a bit longer, the man at the screen called one of the operators over, spoke a few words to him, and left the screen to him. Going into another room, he picked up a file out of an automatic filing machine, and read it closely.

A few minutes later he stood in front of a desk in a gleaming chromium and black office. The man behind the desk was groaning, as if he was in pain.

"Evidentally, Station One was asleep again. Though I'll be doggoned if I see how they missed this one. A perfect specimen if I ever saw one. Occupation: Diamond buyer. Name: Van der Bush. Address: Amsterdam. Not much else UNDESIRABLE ALIEN