"Security," mused Lola. "Now, that just might be something we can talk about. I was certainly impressed by the way Doc and his people took care of a little problem we ran into back at the hotel."

"Nothing to it, Miss," said Doc, smiling broadly. "Just doing our job." He poured himself a glass of cold water from a pitcher on the bar cart and settled down to drink it in a soft chair facing Bascomb' s desk.

"The offer would also include access to some of the best plastic surgeons and uh, image consultants, in the business-just in case you want to be a little bit harder to spot. And you might also like to know, we've managed to recall the photos that PR had sent out, before the stories were distributed-at least most of them. And we managed to tweak the few stories that did run to imply you were off to parts unknown to enjoy your winnings. The long and the short of it is, the captain thinks you're good at what you do, and he wants you on the Fat Chance team," said Tullie.

"And as it happens, Mr. Phule agrees with his son."

"That's right," said Victor Phule. "I must admit I'm not quite certain what it is old Ernie does, but he's clearly very good' at it. And Miss Lola is very sharp."

"Thank you," said Lola, looking at Tullie Bascomb. "But you must realize, gentlemen, this is all very sudden. Could my client and I have some time to discuss it in private?"

"Why, of course," said Bascomb. "If you'd like, we can arrange for a private dining room so you can discuss it over a meal. On the house, of course."

"Thank you very much, but! think we'll be able to come to an answer with just a little walk around the block," said Lola. "We can celebrate with a meal if we decide to accept."

"Sure," said Bascomb, nodding. "If you'd like, we can have a couple of security people keep' an eye on you-at a distance, of course."

"Again, thanks but no thanks," said Lola. "We won't stray that far outside the casino. And unless I'm mistaken, the only people who had anything against us are already out of the game-at least, for the time. being."

"All right, then," said Bascomb. "I'll be here when you're ready to talk."

Lola and Ernie said nothing until they were all the way down to the bottom floor in the elevator and out the doors. There, Lola set off at a brisk pace, with Ernie struggling to catch up despite his longer legs. Finally, after they'd turned a comer and put the casino's front entrance out of sight, he said, "All right, what's the problem? Are we gonna take the bait or not?"

"I don't know what other choice we have," said Lola. "Unless you want to head off for no place in particular and hope to stay one jump ahead of Mr. V and his boys. They're really going to be mad at us, now."

"Yeah," said Ernie. "I don't want to be anywhere they can find me. Unless I've got more guns on my side than they do on theirs."

"Which is exactly what's attractive about Phule's offer," said Lola. "We'd be stuck on a space station, where the company isn't necessarily my kind of people, and where we'd pretty much have to give up hustling and play by the books. And that could get dull after a few months. But with the Legion in charge of security, the Fat Chance has got more muscle than some small planets I've been on. The syndicate originally hired us to try to snatch Phule because they knew a direct attack wasn't going to work. Now, it looks as if an indirect attack's not going anywhere, either. So odds are we'd be safer here than anywhere else we can afford to get to, even if Mr. V and his boys know exactly where we are."

Ernie walked silently for a few paces, then stopped, and said, "That all makes sense to me. So what are we waiting for?"

"For one thing, to make sure it's what we really want," said Lola. "Are you ready to take a job, even a really good one with better pay than you'd ever make hustling? Are you ready to stay in one place for the rest of your life, even if it is a first-class resort hotel and casino?"

Ernie grunted. "You make it sound pretty good." he said. "But is that the whole deal?"

"What do you mean?" asked Lola.

Ernie's expression was, for once in his life, dead serious. "I mean, are you gonna take the deal? Are you gonna stay here? Because if you're not, it don't appeal to me."

Lola's eyes grew wide. "Good Ghu," she said. "If I didn't know better, I'd think that meant..."

"Don't think," said Ernie. "Just let me know. Are you gonna take Phule's offer?" Lola reached out and took Ernie's hand. "You know, in spite of all the downsides to it, I think I just might" She smiled, and Ernie smiled back at her. Together they turned and walked to the Fat Chance Casino.

Qual had guided the three hunters' all-terrain hovervan across a long stretch of semiarid country to the spot where the Zenobian claimed the most dangerous creatures of his planet could be found. In addition to the four passengers, the van was loaded down with weapons and ammunition, as well as various other supplies, purchased at Chocolate Harry's backdoor commissary.

Finally, near midday, Qual pulled the van to a halt in the shade of a stand of Zenobian "trees" that, except for their orange coloration, bore a disturbingly close resemblance to giant stalks of asparagus-at least to the hunters, who had previous experience with asparagus. A native of the planet, like Qual, undoubtedly considered them just ordinary trees.

"Here is our destination," said Qual. "There is a water hole just beyond that hill. The beasts we are hunting arouse themselves from slumber in the later afternoon and visit the water hole, then go hunting. Our notion is to set up an asylum near the water. From there the brave hunters can likely snipe at the unwitting beasts for quite some time before the inevitable raging counterattack."

"Inevitable?" Euston O'Better scoffed. "These weapons we're toting may have something to say about that"

"They may," said Qual, opening the van door and getting out He turned, and added, "Then again, the beasts may not be inclined to listen."

A blast of superhot, desert-dry air greeted the hunters as they tumbled out behind their guide. "Whoo-eee!" said Austen Tay-Shun. "Whoever told us this was a desert world sure knew what he was talkin' about. How do these big critters live in this kind of heat all day?"

"As I told you, they lie in a shady spot and slumber through the worst of the heat," said Qual. "Your visual organs will not detect one of them, this time of day. Indeed, if you detect one of them at all, this time of day, it will be through the unlucky accident of stumbling over it where it ..sleeps. You may have a brief period in which to regret your misfortune before you are devoured."

"You're tryin' to scare us off, aren't you?" said L. P. Asho. He slapped the heavy weapon he had just unloaded from the hovervan's tailgate, and added, "Well, I guess it'd work with some folks. But here's somethin' you better remember-those folks ain't from Tejas!"

"You're not in Tejas anymore," said Qual. "But we expend time to no end. Let us transport our supplies to the vicinity of the water hole." Each of them shouldered a heavy pack-they'd spent the morning loading them, under Qual's supervision-and headed toward a well-defined path through the asparagus trees. These gave enough shade to reduce the effect of the afternoon sun for a few moments, but soon the party was out in the open again, headed slightly downhill. Below them, the scrubby alien vegetation grew slightly thicker, betraying the presence of a source of water, although the water itself remained invisible from this distance.

The hunters had worked up a considerable sweat when Qual finally called a halt. "From here we can survey the approaches with elegance," he said. He pointed to the left "In that patch of tall grasses we will erect our asylum." The patch of vegetation-which, viewed close-up, had only a faint resemblance to grass-sat atop a low ridge, giving a clear view of everything below. There Qual put the hunters to work, cutting the vegetation from the center of the patch and setting it up in a thicker wall around the perimeter. In the little clearing thus created, the hunters set up poles to hold a canopy to keep off the sun, and spread blankets over the stubble to allow them to sit comfortably.