he captain. "The man
is a coward, hardly responsible, Captain Muller. I'm the wounded
party in this case, but it seems to me that hysteria isn't the same
thing as maliciousness. Suppose I ask for clemency?"

"Thank you, Dr. Lomax," Muller said, and actually looked relieved.
"Make it ten lashes, Mr. Grundy. Apparently no real harm has been
done, and he will not testify in the future."

Grundy began dragging Bullard out, muttering about damn fool
groundlubbers always sticking their noses in. The cook caught at
Lomax's hand on the way, literally slobbering over it. Lomax rubbed
his palm across his thigh, looking embarrassed.

Muller turned back to us. "Very well. Mr. Peters will begin
investigating the expedition staff and quarters; Mr. Tremaine will
have free run over the rest of the ship. And if the murderer is not
turned up in forty-eight hours, we head back to Earth!"

Pietro started to protest again, but another scream ripped down the
corridor, jerking us all around. It was Jenny, running toward us. She
was breathing hoarsely as she nearly crashed into Dr. Pietro.

Her face was white and sick, and she had to try twice before she could
speak.

"The plants!" she gasped out. "Poison! They're dying!"

III

It was chromazone again. Muller had kept most of the gang from coming
back to hydroponics, but he, Jenny, Pietro, Wilcox and myself were
enough to fill the room with the smell of sick fear. Now less than
half of the original space was filled with healthy plants. Some of the
tanks held plants already dead, and others were dying as we watched;
once beyond a certain stage, the stuff acted almost instantly--for
hours there was only a slight indication of something wrong, and then
suddenly there were the dead, bleached plants.

Wilcox was the first to speak. He still looked like some nattily
dressed hero of a space serial, but his first words were ones that
could never have gone out on a public broadcast. Then he shrugged.
"They must have been poisoned while we were all huddled over Sam's
body. Who wasn't with us?"

"Nonsense," Pietro denied. "This was done at least eighteen hours ago,
maybe more. We'd have to find who was around then."

"Twenty hours, or as little as twelve," Jenny amended. "It depends on
the amount of the dosage, to some extent. And...." She almost managed
to blush. "Well, there have been a lot of people around. I can't even
remember. Mr. Grundy and one of the men, Mr. Wilcox, Dr. Napier--o