 Why was it unheard of to issue an effective prison sentence to the zarquil operators?
As for the extraterrestrials—it was a free bar—they were merely amused, since to them all men were pathetically and irredeemably hideous. There was a short man standing next to the pair—young, as most men and women were in that time, thanks to the science which could stave off decay, though not death—but with no other apparent physical virtue, for plastic surgery had not fulfilled its bright promise of the twentieth century. "You must allow me to pay your cleaning bill," Gabe said, taking out his wallet and extracting several credit notes without seeming to look at them. And that, coming on top of Gabriel Lockard's spectacular appearance, was too much. Once the illuminators were extinguished in Gabriel Lockard's hotel suite, it seemed reasonably certain to the man in the gray suit, as he watched from the street, that his quarry would not go out again that night. There he inserted a coin in a locker, into which he put most of his personal possessions, reserving only a sum of money. Each time it happens, there's a ... well, there's no experience to match it at a thrill-mill." To the girl's indignation, the stranger not only hauled Gabe out onto the dripping grass first, but stopped and deliberately examined the young man by the light of his minilume, almost as if she weren't there at all. Only when she started to struggle out by herself did he seem to remember her existence.
 The operators lived significantly long lives
 The operators were above the law  The operators were too difficult to contain in a prison  The operators lived significantly long lives  The laws were difficult to enforce and harder to uphold