it too, now. And she knew also what the change of color meant. Mantor had started to use the new fuel!

Suddenly there was a blinding flash. Lee cried out and staggered back, covering her eyes. Marc, who had closed his eyes when the color change came, took hold of the girl's arm.

"I told you what would happen if they used the stuff," he said gently. "It's too hot for their jet chambers. It melts the walls. A lot of gas piles up in the tubes. The pressure pushes the fire back. And when it gets shoved back into the recoil chamber and you lose the protective layers of cold gas there—well, then you've got to look for your ship with an ionization gauge!

"I told you all that long ago. The trouble is, you're too idealistic, Lee. That's not the same as having ideals. I admire ideals—I might even confess to a few of my own. But you don't stop to figure out just what your ideals are—exactly what you're fighting for.

"You come to a crisis like this one and you forget about the big goal. All you see is this one problem. And by giving them yes-or-no answers—good or bad, brave or cowardly—to the problem of the moment—you may miss a simple solution to the big one.

"You've got to keep a cool head and never forget for even a moment exactly what it is you want to accomplish." His voice was gentle, and it held no rebuke.

"All right," said Lee unhappily, "you win. You needn't bother to rub in the salt. I was going to chase you through all the inquiry courts for this. Instead, you got a lucky break, so I can't do a thing. You ought to be tarred and feathered through every city of the Federation, but because a destroyer happened to stumble in here at the right time you'll end up a hero." Her voice caught in a sob.

"Oh, the destroyer," Marc replied. "Ah, yes, that was lucky, wasn't it? The only hitch is—there wasn't any destroyer. Probably not one within a million miles!" He laughed as Lee turned surprise-widened eyes toward him.

"What they thought was a destroyer was the radar system on the side of the rock, bouncing a signal off the moon. I gave the radar boys the word just before Mantor dropped in on us. The crew did a damned good job of juggling the power and frequency and all." He grinned. "Remind me to buy them a beer sometime."

He laughed then at the girl's expression as it changed from bitter disillusion to something akin to awe, close to hero-worship.

"And this, by the way," Polder said, "is as good a time as any to tell you that I'd like to see you look like a woman, for a change. How about changing into a dress before we go into town. You know, I've never seen you out of that uniform?"

She hesitated, unsure of herself now. "That will take a little time," she said doubtfully.

He put hands on her slim shoulders, gave her a gentle shove toward her quarters. "We've got time," he told her. "Lots of it. But I've been waiting quite a while."

Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from Fantastic Universe March 1954. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note.