peeches out of the way, let's get
down to work."

Walters and the professor suddenly stopped short and grinned at the
brusque line officer, who, for all his bullying tactics, knew how to
take the edge off a touchy situation. Walters sat down again and
Hemmingwell spread out several large maps on Walters' desk. He pointed
to a location on the chart of the area surrounding Space Academy.

"This is the area here," he said, placing his finger on the map. "I
think it is best suited for our purpose. Dave Barret and Carter Devers
concur--"

"Someone mention my name?"

The sliding door to the commander's office opened and a tall,
distinguished man with iron-gray hair entered, followed by a handsome,
younger man.

"Devers!" exclaimed Hemmingwell in obvious delight. "I didn't expect you
until this evening."

"Got away earlier than I figured," replied the elder man, who then
turned to the two Solar Guard officers. "Hello, Commander Walters, Major
Connel. Meet Dave Barret, my assistant." He gestured toward the young
man beside him and they shook hands in turn.

"Well," said Devers, "have we missed anything?"

"Just starting," replied Walters.

"Fine," said Devers. "Oh, by the way, I want it understood, Commander,
that while I am lending Dave to you to work on the operation with the
professor, I'm not even going to let you pay him. He remains on my
payroll, so you can't take him away from me. The Jilolo Spaceways would
be lost without him."

Walters smiled. "All right with me," he said.

"I don't care _who_ pays him, as long as he's with me on this,
Commander," said Hemmingwell, wiping his glasses carefully. "That young
man has a mind equipped with a built-in calculator."

Dave Barret grinned in obvious embarrassment. "If Mr. Devers can devote
his time to you for one credit a year as salary, I have no objections to
working on this project," he said. "In fact, I told Mr. Devers that if
he didn't let me come down here, I'd quit and come, anyway."

Hemmingwell beamed. "Well, now, if Captain Strong were only here, we
could get along with the business at hand."

Devers frowned. "Why is he so important?" he asked.

"Steve has been placed in charge of procurement for the construction of
the hangar and getting the spur line in from the monorail station,"
replied Connel. "And that reminds me, Professor," he continued. "Where
is your hangar going to be? And where is that spur coming in from? Are
we going to have a lot of b