ace. "Not really an impressive
business, is it? Office supplies. Ashtrays, paper clips." He smiled.

"Oh--" Thacher shrugged. "Why not? They're a necessity in modern
business. The only thing I wonder--"

"What's that?"

"Well, I wonder how you'd ever find enough customers on Mars to make it
worth your while." He paused, examining the glass paperweight. He lifted
it up, holding it to the light, staring at the scene within until
Erickson took it out of his hand and put it back in the sample case.
"And another thing. If you three know each other, why did you sit apart
when you got on?"

They looked at him quickly.

"And why didn't you speak to each other until we left Deimos?" He leaned
toward Erickson, smiling at him. "Two men and a woman. Three of you.
Sitting apart in the ship. Not speaking, not until the check-station
was past. I find myself thinking over what the Martian said. Three
saboteurs. A woman and two men."

Erickson put the things back in the sample case. He was smiling, but his
face had gone chalk white. Mara stared down, playing with a drop of
water on the edge of her glass. Jan clenched his hands together
nervously, blinking rapidly.

"You three are the ones the Leiter was after," Thacher said softly. "You
are the destroyers, the saboteurs. But their lie detector-- Why didn't
it trap you? How did you get by that? And now you're safe, outside the
check-station." He grinned, staring around at them. "I'll be damned! And
I really thought you were a salesman, Erickson. You really fooled me."

Erickson relaxed a little. "Well, Mr. Thacher, it's in a good cause. I'm
sure you have no love for Mars, either. No Terran does. And I see you're
leaving with the rest of us."

"True," Thacher said. "You must certainly have an interesting account to
give, the three of you." He looked around the table.

"We still have an hour or so of travel. Sometimes it gets dull, this
Mars-Terra run. Nothing to see, nothing to do but sit and drink in the
lounge." He raised his eyes slowly. "Any chance you'd like to spin a
story to keep us awake?"

Jan and Mara looked at Erickson. "Go on," Jan said. "He knows who we
are. Tell him the rest of the story."

"You might as well," Mara said.

Jan let out a sigh suddenly, a sigh of relief. "Let's put the cards on
the table, get this weight off us. I'm tired of sneaking around,
slipping--"

"Sure," Erickson said expansively. "Why not?" He settled back in his
chair, unbuttoning