If not for grith, this might have made for a merry and stimulating couple 
of decades, as Judge Fang matched his wits
against those of the Doctor, a worthy adversary at last and a welcome break 
from smelly, larcenous barbarian whelps. As it was, Dr. X's machinations 
were of purely abstract interest. But they were no less interesting for that, 
and many days, as Miss Pao proceeded through the familiar line of patter about 
sky-eyes, heuristic mugging detection, and tagger aerostats, Judge Fang found 
his attention wandering across town to the ancient city, to the hong of 
Dr. X.