upervised liberty. You must still be watched as potential
dangers to society, but you may otherwise be as wealthy or independent
as you wish."

He motioned to the guards, who had begun to fidget impatiently;
wordlessly they left the compartment.

"You can settle your relations among yourselves," said Varret. "We chose
Bailey partly because she has piloted rockets privately, and Phillips
because he was a space engineer. Perhaps Brecken could handle the
torpedoes--I do not know." He rubbed his chin uneasily. "Frankly, I find
intimate discussion of the affair repulsive. I hope you will decide to
do what is necessary for the welfare of Earth."

He turned abruptly and left the control room. They heard distant voices
exhorting him to hurry.

[Illustration: 2]

Brecken arose and crept furtively to the door. He leaned out to peer
down the corridor. The nervous Truesdale bounced up to crowd behind him.
Phillips and the girl looked at each other; she shrugged, and they too
got to their feet. She turned to the instrument panels; and after a
moment, Phillips joined her.

"How have they got it?" he asked. "Controls locked?"

"No," murmured Donna. "Don't need to; we're just coasting. Nice job,
though. Fast as a racer, I imagine."

"You know something about racers?"

"I used to think I did," she answered, shortly.

He saw pain darken her blue eyes and decided to probe no further.
Instead, he wandered about, inspecting the instruments. A few minutes
later, with a spaceman's indefinable alertness, he felt a change in the
ship.

"They still aboard?" he called to Truesdale, who remained at the door
although Brecken had disappeared.

The youth glanced over his shoulder but did not trouble to reply.
Phillips' jaw set, and he took a quick step toward the other. Before he
reached the doorway, however, Brecken returned from the corridor.
Shouldering Truesdale aside, he strode into the control room. "Well," he
announced, "the old fool hopped off like he said. Got a viewer in here?"

"I have it on now," called Donna from the instrument desk. "There he
goes."

They gathered around the screen to watch. Near one edge was the image of
another ship, with several spacesuited figures clustered around its
entrance port. The girl made an adjustment, and the view crept over to
the center of the screen just as the last of the figures vanished into
the opening. Almost immediately, the other rocket slanted away on a new
course.