I said. And we don't
have a common ruler aboard, much less a micrometer. Any makeshift job
will be a failure."

Captain Al-Amin brooded over that for a moment. Then he looked at
Jayjay again. "Mr. Kelvin."

"Yes, captain?" Jayjay didn't look up from the cards in his hands.

"_Are_ you related to Kelvin Associates?"

"In a way."

Al-Amin bit at his lower lip. "Mr. Kelvin, you registered aboard this
ship as Joseph Kelvin. May I ask if your middle name is James?"

After a short pause, Jayjay said: "Yes. It is."

"Are you _the_ J. J. Kelvin?"

"Yup. But I'd rather you didn't mention it when we get to Pluto."

Smith's jaw had slowly sagged during that conversation. Then he closed
his mouth with a snap. "You're Jayjay Kelvin?" he asked, opening his
mouth again.

"That's right."

"Then I apologize."

"Accepted," said Jayjay. He wished that Smith hadn't apologized.

"Why didn't you say so in the first place?" Captain Al-Amin asked.

"Because I didn't want it known that I was going to Pluto," Kelvin
said. "And--after the accident happened--I kept quiet because I know
human nature."

Jeffry Hull, who had awakened during the argument, looked at Jayjay
and said: "What's human nature got to do with it, Mr. Kelvin?"

"Nothing, except that if I'd told everyone I was J. J. Kelvin, all of
you would have been sitting around waiting for me to solve the problem
instead of thinking about it yourselves."

Hull nodded thoughtfully. "It makes sense, Mr. Kelvin. If they'd known
that you were ... well ... Mister Spaceship Himself, they'd have let
you do all the thinking. And that would have left you high and dry,
wouldn't it?"

Jayjay put the deck of cards in his pocket. "You're a pretty good
sociologist, after all, Mr. Hull. You're right. Face any group with
Authority--with a capital _A_--and they quit thinking for themselves.
And if they do, then the poor slob of an Authority doesn't have
anything to tickle his own brains, so everybody loses."

"Well, _do_ you have an answer?" Captain Al-Amin asked.

Jayjay shook his head. "Not yet. I think I've got one coming up, but I
wish you two would go on talking while I think."

"I'll try," Smith said wryly.

* * * * *

The problem was both simple and complex. The female socket lacked one
single turn of thread to make a perfect connection. A few hundredths
of an inch separated success from disaster.

Five men, including the unconscious Vande