The Hall of the Rings was being guarded. There were Fashion Police everywhere, armed with small automatic weapons and strutting about getting in the way.

The Hall was in use day and night, and from the records we were set to keeping we knew that for most of the time the transfers were done in only a few hours each week. It was soon obvious that there was something going on which was disrupting normal working. After overhearing a few comments it seemed that there was a rebellion amongst the wolf hunters, that a ring station had been taken over and several consignments of meals had been highjacked, so there were plans to do something to restore control.

The Captain heard that if not for the consignment of acryli-beast pelts expected from the high Arctic at the end of the summer hunting season, that 'the pins would be pulled' on this world, - which seemed to mean that the Fashion Fur personnel would withdraw and leave the locals to survive as best they could. That would be tantamount to a death sentence for most of the population, and it was rather chilling to think that it was most likely Hamish and the three male me's fault, as I had managed to listen in on one side of a phone conversation between two Golden, and the description of the kilts meant it could only be the Copper, the Civil Servant and the Chemistry Teacher.

'We will have to do something soon, or it will be too late,' said the Chorister. 'There is something going to happen tomorrow in the Hall of Rings, we have to be out of here by ten o'clock.' She waved the notice just delivered to our office by a sneering Blue Meanie. The Captain made signs to be quiet and went to the door in case there was someone able to overhear. It seemed that all was clear but she walked over to the Chorister and spoke softly.
'I'm sorry, but this is really making me feel ill, all the sneaking about and,' the Chorister gave a sob and felt for a tissue. 'If only we could do something, anything, so we could go home.'

The Captain put a hand on her shoulder.
'Tomorrow you can leave the Hall, and we'll stay and try to see what is going on. We'll probably have to stay overnight, and meet up again the morning after, if we can't get out unseen.'

A few minutes later we were called to help in making records of the arrival of several hundred people from the Home world. They had been sent home abruptly and with no explanation, many of them with only the clothes they were wearing. We took names and copied the off world ID cards they had, and then they were sent to the stations closest to their homes, after they had been issued with the latest grayish pink garments which were the latest seasonal alteration.

I had a sudden thought, and quickly acquired two sets of the new clothes for the Captain and myself. If the deadline was declared during the time we were hiding we would stand out like sore thumbs in our present attire. I held them under my blue shawl until I could lay them in the bottom of the box I was using for the records.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw one of the Fashion police approaching, as he might have been about to take the boxes, but he ordered us to take them to an office quite close to where we were working, and so we could hide the garments undetected.