y
ignorant that the former commander of the Third Force was still alive,
had proclaimed himself to be the reincarnation of Foxx Travis and was
forbidding everybody, on pain of court-martial and firing squad, from
meddling with Merlin. And an evangelist in the west was declaring that
Merlin was really Satan in mechanical shape.

The _Harriet Barne_ was finished. The first test, lifting her to three
hundred miles, turning her bow-up, and taking her another thousand
miles, had been a success. They brought her back and set her down in
the middle of the crater, and began getting the supplies aboard. Kurt
Fawzi, Klem Zareff, Judge Ledue, Franz Veltrin and the others flew
over from Force Command. Sylvie Jacquemont came from Litchfield, and
so did Wade Lucas, Morgan Gatworth, Lester Dawes, Lorenzo Menardes and
a number of others. Neither Conn's mother nor sister came.

"I don't know what's the matter with those two," Sylvie told him.
"They always seem to be scrapping with each other now, and the only
thing they can agree on is that you and your father ought to stop
whatever you're doing, right away. Your mother can't adjust to your
father being a big Storisende businessman, and she says he'll lose
every centisol he has and both of you will probably go to jail, and
then she's afraid you will find Merlin, and Flora's sure you and your
father are swindling everybody on the planet."

"Sylvie, I had no idea things would be like that," he told her
contritely. "I wish I hadn't suggested that you stay there, now."

"Oh, it isn't so bad, so far. Your mother and I get along all right
when Flora isn't there, and Flora and I get along when your mother
isn't around. Mealtimes aren't much fun, though."

His father came out from Storisende, looked the ship over, and seemed
relieved.

"I'm glad you're ready to get off," he said. "You know this hyperspace
freighter, the _Andromeda_? Some private group in Storisende has
chartered her. She's loading supplies now. I have a private detective
agency, Barton-Massarra, trying to find out where's she's going. I
think you'd better get this ship off, right away."

"We have everything aboard, all the supplies and everything,"
Jacquemont told him. "We can lift off tonight."

III

The ship lurched slightly. In the outside screens, the lights around,
the crowd that was waving good-bye, and the floor of the crater began
receding. The sound pickups were full of cheering, and the boom of a
b