Read the following passage and questions, then choose the right answer from options, the answer should be one of A, B, C, D.

<passage>:
THE FIRE and THE SWORD menshar Eckert, you have but to ask." It would probably be a mistake to ask for a list of Pendleton's friends, but there was a way around that. "I would like to meet any of your people who had dealings with Pendleton, either in business or Templin tightened his safety belt and lay back on the acceleration socially. I will do everything not to inconvenience them in any way." "I think they would be glad to help you. I shall ask them to go to you because, at one time or another, they had had to. It was Eckert who had come into his office several days ago and told him that Don Pendleton had killed himself. Only Pendleton wasn't the type. He was the kind who have everything to live for, the kind you instinctively know will amount to something someday. And that was a lousy way to remember him. The clichés always of hail amid the brassy, golden sunlight. And then Eckert had told him that Pendleton had taken the short way out. He shouldn't get sentimental. But how the hell else should he remember Pendleton? Try to forget it and drink a toast to him at the next class reunion? And never, never be so crude as to speculate why Pendleton should have done it? If, of course, he had.... The cabin was hazy in the reddish glow, the sleeping gas a heavy perfume. Eckert and he had talked it out and gone over the records. Pendleton such honors. But try getting a picture of him by reading the records, resurrect him from a page of black print. Would he be human? Would he be flesh and blood? Hell, no! In the statistics Pendleton was the the room was filled with the gas now. It would be only a matter of minutes before he would be asleep. Pendleton had been in his second year as attache on Tunpesh, a small planet with a G-type sun. The Service had stumbled across it recently and decided the system was worth diplomatic recognition of some kind, so Pendleton had been sent there. He had been the first attache to be sent and naturally he had gone alone. There was no need to send more. Tunpesh had been inspected and the very few ships that ever came by Tunpesh. The captain had tried to pay his respects to Pendleton. Only Pendleton wasn't there. The natives said he had killed himself and showed the captain the little flower-covered plot where they had buried him. Tunpesh had been Pendleton's second assignment. The natives were oh-so-friendly. So friendly that he had made sure People like Pendleton didn't kill themselves, did they? No, they didn't. But sometimes they were murdered. It was almost black inside the cabin now keep open much longer. Eckert and he had been chosen to go to Tunpesh and investigate. The two of them, working together, should be able to find out why Pendleton had killed himself. But that wasn't the real reason. Maybe Eckert thought so, but he knew better. The real reason they were going there was to find out why Pendleton had been killed and who had killed him. That was it. Who had killed Cock Robin? The thin red line was practically microscopic now and Templin could Warm breezes rustled through Eckert's graying hair and tugged gently suddenly, acutely aware that he and Templin would be stranded for six comfort. Like old dogs and octogenarians. Eckert nodded agreement. "It wouldn't fit, would it? It would be like a Eckert stared at them for a moment, wondering what it was that seemed and Templin. his tunic. He couldn't be blamed for being jumpy, Eckert realized. This was his first time out, his first mission like this. And, of course, Pendleton had been a pretty good friend of his. Eckert and Templin took a quick tour of the few rooms. They were well Eckert opened one of the boxes they had brought along, cute, harmless little kids." He looked at Eckert. "Maybe that's what we're supposed to think—just an idyllic, harmless society. Maybe that's what Pendleton thought, right to the very end." He was keyed up, jumpy, Eckert realized. He would probably be seeing things in every shadow and imagining danger to be lurking around every corner. "It hasn't been established yet that Pendleton was killed, Ray. Let's keep an open mind until we know for certain." He flicked out the light and lay back on the cool bed, letting his even realize. He wondered what Templin would do if he ever found out that the actual reason he had been chosen to go was that his own psychological chart was very close to Pendleton's. Pendleton's own feelings and emotions would almost exactly be duplicated in Templin's. for an instant on a small metal box strapped to Templin's waist. A There were disadvantages in taking Templin, too. Eckert put down the chain he had been whittling and reached for his Eckert hefted it in his palm. "The most important thing is that they seemed likely to turn into a vendettist. It meant that Eckert would among the Tunpeshans, and he'd have to watch Templin to see that he didn't go off half-cocked and spoil everything. "You're convinced that Pendleton was murdered, aren't you?" Templin nodded. "Sure." "Why?" "The Tunpeshans know why we're here. We've dropped enough hints along those lines. But nobody has mentioned Pendleton nobody has volunteered any information about him. And he was an attache here for three years. Didn't anybody know him during that time? We've let slip a few discreet statements that we would like to talk to Pendleton's friends, yet nobody's come around. Apparently, in all the three years he was here, Pendleton didn't make any friends. And that's a little hard to believe. It's more likely that his friends have been silenced and any information about him is being withheld for a reason." Templin shrugged. "Murder. What other reason could there be?" Eckert rolled up the thin, slatted blinds and stared out at the voice was crisp. "I knew Don Pendleton quite well, too," he said. "But it isn't blinding me to what I'm here for. We came to find out what happened to him, not to substantiate any preconceived notions. What we find out may be vitally important to anybody serving here in the future. I would hate to see our efforts spoiled because you've already made up your mind." "You knew Pendleton," Templin repeated grimly. "Do you think it was suicide?" "I don't think there's such a thing as a suicide type, when you come and Templin had been invited. It was a good chance to observe native in Templin's getting excited and doing something he was bound to regret There will be hell to pay , Eckert thought, if Templin ever finds out Eckert." certain aura of authority. "I was wondering if my countryman Pendleton had offended your people in any way, Nayova." Now was as good a time as any to pump him for what he knew about Pendleton's death. "So far as I know, menshar Pendleton offended no one. I do not know what duties he had to perform here, but he was a generous and courteous man." Eckert gnawed the dainty meat off a slender Pendleton had killed himself. We knew him quite well and we could not bring ourselves to believe he had done such a thing." information together. They probably had a taboo about self-destruction which would make it difficult to talk about. That would make it even harder for him to find out by direct questioning. Pendleton did. It is ..." and he used a native word that Eckert translated as being roughly equivalent to " obscene

<question>:
What was the mission of Eckert and Templin?

<options>:
A To locate Pendleton
B To find out what happened to Pendleton
C To get to know the primitive way of life.
D To try to cover up what happened to Pendleton

<answer>:

B