wasn't angry. Nor was he mutinous. He wasn't challenging
authority. He was just scared.

"Ron," he said, "according to the agreement under which we sailed, any
time the majority of the members of this expedition wants a new captain,
they can have him."

"It isn't that."

"I know. You fellows are scared. Hells bells, man! What do you think I
am?"

Ron Val's eyes popped open. "Jed! Are you? You don't show it. You don't
seem even to appreciate the spot we're in."

Hargraves slowly lit a cigarette. The fingers holding the tiny lighter
did not shake. "If I had been the type to show it, do you think I would
have been selected to head this expedition?"

"No. But--"

"Because I haven't made an official announcement that we may not be able
to repair the ship, you seem to think I don't realize the fact. I know
how big a hole has been ripped in our hull. I know the ship is made of
magna steel, the toughest, hardest, most beautiful metal yet invented. I
know the odds are we can't repair the hole in the hull. We don't have
the metal. We don't have the tools to work it. I know these things. When
I didn't call it to your attention, I assumed it was equally obvious to
everyone else that we may never leave this planet."

"Jed! Never leave this planet! Never--go home! That can't be right."

"See," said Hargraves. "When you get the truth flung in your face, even
you crack wide open. Yes, it's the truth. The fact you fellows think I'm
not facing--the one you don't dare face--is that we may be marooned here
for the rest of our lives."

That was that. Ron Val went aft. Hargraves took up his vigil on the
bridge. At midnight Ron Val came forward to relieve him.

"I told them what you said, Jed," the astro-navigator said. "We're back
of you one hundred per cent."

Hargraves grinned a little. "Thanks," he said. "We were selected to work
together as a unit. As long as we remain a unit, we will have a chance
against any enemy."

* * * * *

Dog-tired, he went to his bunk and rolled in. It seemed to him he had
barely closed his eyes before a hand grabbed him by the shoulder and a
shaken voice shouted in his ear. "Jed! Wake up."

"Who is it? What's wrong?" The room was dark and he couldn't see who was
shaking him.

"Ron Val." The astro-navigator's voice was hoarse with the maddest,
wildest fright Hargraves had ever heard. "The--the damnedest thing has
happened!"

"What?"

"Hal Sarkoff--" That wa