Helen Pergamon knocked on her boss's office door and then walked in.
"Helen, sit down. We have a situation. It's Angelos."
"You've found him?"
"No. In fact, I have even less idea where he is than before. He's gone off-planet. He left on a ship called the Point Loma about a month ago."
"Where did you find out?"
"The Department of Research called me to ask if he'd been in touch. Research are suddenly very interested in Angelos's whereabouts."
"Is that bad?"
"Of course it's bad! He must have found something out. We have to get hold of him before Research catches up with him. Who have you got that you can put onto this? Someone who you can rely on not to go talking to Research?"
"It's hard to say. Probably the safest would be someone new. There's a group of trainees just graduated."
"Get some assigned to you and put them onto this. Discreetly."
"I'll do my best, but it's going to be hard to hide that from Research."
"Well you must. I don't have to tell you how important this is to me."
"OK. I'll make the arrangements and let you know. Where was the Point Loma headed?"
"The first call was to be Cebalrai. But he needn't have stopped there."
"Cebalrai...if he was heading there, that gives me a great idea. Don't worry, we'll find him. I'll get right on it."