Skin Game Page 3

your friend too much," the Patrolman advised. "Whether yourealize it or not, the fact that you were consciously avoiding ourschedules caused you to follow a pattern in your visits to theseouterspace planets; we just figured a bit ahead of you and posted hiddenpatrols on all the inhabited planets in this sector, knowing that sooneror later you'd land on one of them. We spotted your ship last night andhurried over by 'copter so we wouldn't be seen."

  "Forget the synopsis," Harding growled. "You walked in when theseblasted lizards were making believe they were going to skin me alive.They didn't have to act so realistic about it."

  "You're wrong about one thing," the Patrolman said. "The act didn'tstart until after we arrived to direct it."

  Harding looked at him, puzzled. "What do you mean by that?"

  "We arrived, as the books say, just in time," the Patrolman told him."They _weren't_ making believe." He offered a bowl of fruit to hisprisoner. "We'll be here for another hour yet. Eat something."

  Weakly, Harding shook his head no. He sat down, suddenly pale at whatthe officer had said.

  He didn't feel very hungry.

  ... THE END

  Transcriber's Note:

  This etext was produced from _If: Worlds of Science Fiction_ May 1954. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note.