it." The doctor chuckled as though at a private joke with himself,
then added, "He's really quite weak physically, you know, even without
the after effects of radiation and drugs."

"Thank you, doctor."

* * * * *

Back in his quarters, Elbertson was refusing to admit to himself the
fact of his own weakness. He had been quite ill in the shower, had
managed to slash himself rather badly with the razor while shaving,
but was now smartly attired in a clean pair of the regulation
coveralls, with the insignia of his rank properly in place--and so
weak he could hardly move.

The coffee hadn't helped much.

The briefing had helped even less. The major knew himself guilty of
negligence while on duty. Inadvertently, but as though by his very
hand, certainly through the agency of some saboteur he had failed to
spot, his weapon had been turned on his own troops at Thule, key post
in the plan.

It was possible that the entire plan had been sabotaged, though that
seemed quite unlikely. Its ramifications were too great. So long as
Hot Rod still existed, was still within their reach, the plan was
operational.

The nonsense about a magneto-ionic effect he discarded without
hesitation. Obviously it was sabotage, possibly by someone with a plan
of his own, more probably by someone in the pay of one of the big
power companies that would like to see the operation at least
postponed. Obviously--he gave up.

Nothing would be obvious until he knew in exact detail what had
occurred, what the plans of the enemy would be, where next they would
strike--and who was the enemy.

But that last, at least, was almost obvious. Who else, but the man who
had carried the political battle, against all odds, that Hot Rod be
created? Who else but Captain Naylor Andersen could possibly have
delivered this sneaking, underhanded attack against himself and his
comrades?

Who else, he thought, but a man so callous as to order _him_, sick as
he was, as though he were a mere cadet, to leave the bridge.

Major Elbertson's mind was made up as to the identity of the enemy.

But he would have to proceed with care, or he would key the plan
before the time was ripe. There must be no great shake-up in
personnel, or undue attention from Earth to the potentials of Project
Hot Rod.

Perhaps the saboteur's cover-story of a magneto-ionic effect would
serve his ends as well--at least until his comrades on Earth signaled
that the