ed icily at Tom, and then the smile vanished like a
Martian polar cap.

"Why--Mr. Blacker!"

"Hi, Stella," he grinned. "Mr. Andrusco in his office?"

"Why, I don't know. Suppose I give him a ring--"

He stopped the hand that was reaching for the telephone. "No need of
that. I think I'll just surprise him. After all, it's been some time."

He turned the knob of John Andrusco's door slowly.

Livia was with him. When he entered, they both stood up hastily, their
eyes wide and their mouths unhinged.

Livia reacted first. She cried out his name, and then sat down heavily,
as if the words had been a physical force.

"Hi, Livia," Tom said casually. "Good to see you again, Mr. Andrusco.
Sorry that I haven't been around--but things have been pretty hectic for
me lately."

"How did you get here?" Andrusco's voice was choked.

"I've been here all weekend, if you want to know." Tom seated himself
blithely. "As a matter of fact, the Homelovers Building has had quite a
lot of visitors this weekend."

"What do you mean?"

"You know the staff of cleaning personnel that invades this place every
Saturday? Well, there were some changes made this particular weekend.
I'm sure you'll be interested in hearing about them."

Livia said: "Shall I call the police, John?"

"The police were represented," Tom said. "Don't worry about that. In
fact, the top technicians from three government agencies were doing the
housework around here this weekend, Mr. Andrusco. They probably didn't
get the building much cleaner--but they swept up a lot of other things.
Yes, they certainly uncovered other things."

* * * * *

Andrusco walked over to Livia, and touched her shoulder in a comforting
gesture. The sight of them made Tom scowl.

"All right!" he said roughly. "I'm not blaming you for what you're
doing. But things were getting out of hand, Mr. Andrusco. That's why we
had to put a stop to it."

"And have you?" Andrusco asked politely.

"I'm afraid so. It was quite a shock, let me tell you. We didn't know
what to expect when we dissected this building of yours. But the last
thing we expected to find was--a spaceship."

Andrusco smiled. "It was cleverly done. You'll have to admit that."

"I do," Tom said fervently. "You've got those space flight experts
absolutely insane with curiosity. They'll want to hear the whole story.
Will you give it to them?"

The man shrugged. "It doesn't matter, I suppose. I