idential for the present. I think I
can promise you action in the near future, though."

They filed out, looking as foolish as three preachers caught in a raid
on a brothel. I stood without moving until the door closed. Then I let
my breath out. I sat down and finished off the Scotch in one drag.

"You were lucky, boy," I said aloud. "Three gutless wonders."

* * * * *

I looked at the Mark 9's on the table. A blast from one of those would
have burned all four of us in that enclosed room. I dumped them into a
drawer and loaded my Browning 2mm. The trouble wasn't over yet, I knew.
After this farce, Kramer would have to make another move to regain his
prestige. I unlocked the door, and left it slightly ajar. Then I threw
the main switch and stretched out on my bunk. I put the Browning needler
on the little shelf near my right hand.

Perhaps I had made a mistake, I reflected, in eliminating formal
discipline as far as possible in the shipboard routine. It had seemed
the best course for a long cruise under the present conditions. But now
I had a morale situation that could explode in mutiny at the first
blunder on my part.

I knew that Kramer was the focal point of the trouble. He was my senior
staff officer, and carried a great deal of weight in the Officer's Mess.
As a medic, he knew most of the crew better than I. I thought I knew
Kramer's driving motive, too. He had always been a great success with
the women. When he had volunteered for the mission he had doubtless
pictured himself as quite a romantic hero, off on a noble but hopeless
quest. Now, after four years in deep space, he was beginning to realize
that he was getting no younger, and that at best he would have spent a
decade of his prime in monastic seclusion. He wanted to go back now, and
salvage what he could.

It was incredible to me that this movement could have gathered
followers, but I had to face the fact; my crew almost to a man had given
up the search before it was well begun. I had heard the first rumors
only a few weeks before, but the idea had spread through the crew like
wildfire. Now, I couldn't afford drastic action, or risk forcing a
blowup by arresting ringleaders. I had to baby the situation along with
an easy hand and hope for good news from the Survey Section. A likely
find now would save us.

There was still every reason to hope for success in our search. To date
all had gone according to plan. We had f