"It doesn't fit," I said. "If what you say about Zorvash Pedrik is
right, he would come to us under his own name and denounce someone else
as a bomb carrier. That's the psychological pattern of these paranoids."
Jedon Onomondo just looked at me, frowning.
"I have a hunch that Holdreth Khain is telling the truth; Zorvash
Pedrik is a looney, all right, but now he's going to be a big hero
in the proper way. If he sets off a theta bomb in the Grand Capitol
Building, two-thirds of the people of Damak will hail him as a hero.
They'll forget about the silly things he's done before. Doesn't that
follow the paranoid pattern better?"
The Damakoi nodded slowly. "You may be right. The trouble is that it
doesn't jibe with the information I've received from pretty reliable
sources."
"Have you ever seen Holdreth Khain?" I asked.
"No," Jedon Onomondo admitted, "but I've seen Zorvash Pedrik."
"What does that prove?"
Jedon Onomondo leaned forward earnestly. "Listen, Mr. Cameron; I'll
admit that we Damakoi are--well, as you Earthmen say, fanatic. We know
what we believe in, and we fight for it. If that's stupid, well, it's
stupid. But that's the way we are."
He stopped and took a deep breath.
"I believe in the cause of the Galactic Government. I know that very
few of my people do, but I do.
"Now, I don't think we have the right to take a chance. Either the man
you're holding now is an anti-Government man or he isn't. If he isn't,
I'll be glad to apologize or fight him to the death, whichever you or
he prefer.
"But, I repeat, we can't take any chance. We've got to know.
"So, let me take a look at him. If he _is_ Zorvash Pedrik, you can hold
him and find out the truth. If he isn't, we can check on his story and
find out where Zorvash Pedrik is."
I rubbed my chin, as though I were thinking my decision over, although
I had already made up my mind. After a minute, I looked up at him and
said: "In other words, you won't know whether this man is Zorvash
Pedrik or not unless you see him?"