n for the second time in
two hundred years. With its red glow illuminating his freckled excited
face, Hansen triumphantly placed another call to the Euclid Queen.

"This is Hansen on 43.4SC. Let me speak to Captain Fromer, please."

"Er--the Captain has asked me to contact you. I'm the navigator. I was just
about to call you. We have a small problem that--"

"I'll speak to the Captain," Hansen repeated grimly.

"Now see here. I'm perfectly capable of handling this situation. Actually,
it's hardly even an emergency. You were, it seems, signaled automatically
when--"

"If you'll check your emergency procedures," Hansen said, holding his thumb
in the Rule Book, "you'll note that the Relay Station Attendant contacts
the Captain personally during all emergencies. Of course, if you want to
violate--"

"Look, old man," said the navigator, now sounding on the verge of tears,
"try to realize the spot I'm in. Fromer has ordered me to handle this thing
without his assistance. He seems to feel that you have a grudge of some
kind--"

"If you don't put me in touch with Captain Fromer in five minutes, I'll put
through a call to Sector Headquarters." Hansen signaled off contact. If he
knew nothing else about the situation, he knew that he had the upper hand.

* * * * *

Five minutes later Captain Fromer called him back. "I am calling in
accordance with emergency procedures," Fromer said between clinched teeth.
"The situation is this: We are reporting an emergency--"

"What class emergency?" Hansen interrupted.

"Class?" asked Fromer, obviously caught off guard.

"Yes, Captain. There are three classes of emergencies. Major class, which
would include death and injury. Mechanical class, including malfunction of
Hegler units and such. And General class--"

"Yes, yes, of course, General class by all means," Fromer said hurriedly.
"You see, it's hardly even an emergency. We--"

"Just what is the nature of the trouble, Captain?"

"Why, uh, well it seems that we were doing a preliminary landing procedure
check, and ..."

"Yes, go on."

"Why, er, it seems that we can't get the door open."

It was Hansen's turn to be taken aback. "You're pulling my leg, sir."

"I most certainly am not," Captain Fromer said emphatically.

"You really mean that you can't open the door?"

"I'm afraid so. Something's wrong with the mechanism. Our technical staff
has never encountered a problem like this, and th