 Why does Meyerhoff arrest Zeckler?
Meyerhoff followed the huge, bear-like Altairian guard down the slippery flagstones of the corridor, sniffing the dead, musty air with distaste. Why, I've been in here for years—" "Look, Zeckler, the name is Meyerhoff, and I'm not your pal," Meyerhoff snapped. I sent an appeal to the Terran Consulate the first day I was arrested. "You've committed the most heinous crime these creatures can imagine, and they're going to get you for it if it's the last thing they do. They've built up the most confusing and impossible system of barter and trade imaginable, aimed at individual survival, with land as the value behind the credit. Lying is the time-honored tradition, with their entire legal system built around it." They have only the haziest idea what truth represents, and they've shrugged off the idea as impossible and useless." Encroachment on private property is legal grounds for murder on this planet, and twelve of them descended on the same chunk of land at the same time, all armed with title-deeds." "By Interplanetary Rules, they have to give you a trial in Terran legal form—judge, jury, court procedure, all that folderol. Zeckler followed the shaggy-haired guard into the room, nodding approvingly. Loud, harsh voices were heard as half a dozen of the huge Altairians attempted to push through the door at once. Finally the question of precedent seemed to be settled, and a group of the Altairians filed in, in order of stature, stalking across the room in flowing black robes, pug-nosed faces glowering with self-importance. Finally, the prosecuting attorney appeared, flanked by two clerks, who took their places beside him. Two small fights broke out in the rear, but were quickly subdued by the group of gendarmes guarding the entrance. Finally the judge glared down at Zeckler with all three eyes, and pounded the bench top with a wooden mallet until the roar of activity subsided. "We are reading the case of the people of Altair I," the judge's voice roared out, "against one Harry Zeckler—" he paused for a long, impressive moment—"Terran." Conspiracy with the lesser gods to cause the unprecedented drought in the Dermatti section of our fair globe. Four separate and distinct charges of jail-break and bribery—" The judge pounded the bench for order—"Espionage with the accursed scum of Altair II in preparation for interplanetary invasion." He turned, wide-eyed, to Meyerhoff, then back to the judge.
 He arrests Zeckler for undermining the authority of the Terran Trading Commission.
 He arrests Zeckler for perjury.  He arrests Zeckler for undermining the authority of the Terran Trading Commission.  He arrests Zeckler for murdering eighteen Altairians.  He arrests Zeckler for selling the same plot of land to a dozen different Altairians.