ree probables:
a Lunar courier which had aborted and returned to base for no clean cut
reason, an alleged training exercise in three body orbits with the
instructors' seats inexplicably filled with nothing lower than the rank
of Lieut. Commander and a sour smelling sortie out of Guantanamo labeled
_Operation Artifact_.

* * * * *

Jordan remained sold on the latter for half an hour until fuel
consumption and flight time log figures failed to correlate with an
orbital flight, and the bottom fell out of the case. As it turned out it
was the courier after all. Both the pilot and his commander refused to
talk until presented with the alternative of court-martial proceedings.

_Senator Darius:_ Now, Admiral, I'm going to put the question to you
this way, just to see if I can get a straight answer. Did you or did you
not issue orders to Lunar Courier G771 specifying _in general substance_
that it was to retrieve satellite '58 Beta?

_Admiral Flack:_ (hurt but proud) The Navy, sir, has a long record of
gallantry, a tradition of derring do dating back to John Paul Jones ...
a tradition we are all proud of and which we continue and will always
continue....

_Senator D:_ (with acid patience) Again, if I may put the question,
Admiral. Did you or did you not issue the order?

_Admiral F:_ (defiantly) '58 Beta is Navy property, sir! I am glad and
proud to say that I issued the order to retrieve her.

_Senator D:_ Aha! (to the recording secretary) Did you get that? And
now, Admiral, will you explain to this committee why this action, in
view of the exigencies of the present situation, didn't strike you as
singularly high handed, not to say out of your jurisdiction?

_Admiral F:_ (after a whispered consultation with an aide) Well, sir,
there is a precedent. May I recall to your attention an incident
recorded in Navy history about eighty years ago. An officer of flag
rank, if my memory holds, in defiance of instructions and in a damaged
ship, at great danger to himself and his crew, acting on an operational
plan which had been scathingly disapproved by his superiors, went to the
rescue ... the successful rescue ... of a three-man Lunar exploration
party which had become lost near the south scarp of Sinus Iridum. The
officer's name, I am almost certain, was Captain Steven Darius ... the
Senator's grandfather, I believe ... an officer the Navy will never
cease to honor.

_Senator D:_ (shuffling p