Brilliance And Incompetence

By brilliant detective work, Nias Warouw, chief of police, official title "director of the Guard Corps," on Unan Besar, has tracked Dominic Flandry and Luang to another city. Armed Guards led by Warouw have bound Luang and her companion, Kemul, in their hotel room and await Flandry's return. So they should soon have all three in custody, right? Wrong.

Because Planetary Biocontrol dispenses the antitoxin that keeps everyone alive, their police force, the Guard Corps, has encountered no resistance for centuries and has become inefficient. When Flandry enters the hotel room and assesses the situation, he fights his way free and has to be chased through the city. He is soon apprehended but his brief escape has been enough.

All of the Guards chase Flandry. None stay to guard those already arrested. Djuanda, whose life Flandry has just saved, has accompanied him to the hotel, is behind him when he enters the room, enters it when the Guards are chasing Flandry and frees the unguarded prisoners! Then he persuades them to rescue Flandry from Biocontrol Headquarters which, because of the Guard Corps' incompetence, is nowhere near as difficult as it should be. So this part of the plot, unlike Flandry's luck, is entirely plausible.

Warouw continues to work as well as he can despite his subordinates' incompetence. While Flandry is his prisoner, he does not let him know that the others have escaped. He wants Flandry's advice on how to modernize the Guards. Flandry is rescued before he has to give his answer but would surely have sabotaged Biocontrol from within if he had accepted appointment as Warouw's special assistant.