ed up to his place. "That way," the second man said
to Mel. "Follow the steward."

* * * * *

Mel's heart picked up its beat as he stepped out of the line and moved
slowly down the corridor after the retreating steward. They walked a
long way through branching silent corridors that showed no sign of life.

They stopped at last before a door that was like a score of others they
had passed. There were no markings. The steward opened the door and
stood aside. "In here please," he said. Mel entered and found himself
alone. The steward remained outside.

The room was furnished as an office. It was carpeted and paneled
luxuriously. A door leading from a room at his left opened and admitted
a tall man with graying hair. The man seemed to carry an aura of power
and strength as he moved. An aura that Mel Hastings recognized.

"James Connemorra!" Mel exclaimed.

The man bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement. "Yes, Mr. Hastings,"
he said.

Mel was dismayed. "How do you know who I am?" he said.

James Connemorra looked through the port beside Mel and at the stars
beyond. "I have been looking for you long enough I ought to know who you
are."

Something in the man's voice chilled Mel. "I have been easy enough to
find. I'm only a news reporter. Why have you been looking for me?"

Connemorra sank into a deep chair on the opposite side of the room.
"Can't you guess?" he said.

"It has something to do with what happened--before?" Mel asked. He
backed warily against the opposite wall from Connemorra. "That time when
I escaped from the Martian Princess rather than come aboard the black
ship?"

Connemorra nodded. "Yes."

"I still don't understand. Why?"

"It's an old story." Connemorra shrugged faintly. "A man learns too much
about things he should know nothing of."

"I have a right to know what happened to my wife. You know about her
don't you?"

Connemorra nodded.

"What happened to her? Why was she different after her trip to Mars?"

James Connemorra was silent for so long that Mel thought he had not
heard him. "Is everyone different when they get back?" Mel demanded.
"Does something happen to everybody who takes the Mars trip, the same
thing that happened to Alice?"

"You learned so much," said Connemorra, speaking as if to himself, "I
had to hunt you down and bring you here."

"What do you mean by that? I came through my own efforts. Your office
tried to stop me."

"Yet I