is no conceited zebra, handsomely striped by
nature, and proud of it. Not so. I am, I do beg you to believe, a very
humble fellow, striving for your approval, hoping only to entertain
you.

My introduction: My name, Gregg Haljan. My age, twenty-five years. I
was, at the time my narrative begins, Third Officer on the Space-Ship
Planetara. Our line was newly established; in 2070, to be exact,
following the modern improvements of the Martel Magnetic Levitation.[1]

* * * * *

Our ship, whose home port was Great-New York, carried mail and passenger
traffic to and from both Venus and Mars. Of astronomical necessity, our
flights were irregular. This spring, with the two other planets both
close to the earth, we were making two complete round trips. We had just
arrived in Great-New York, this May evening, from Grebhar, Venus Free
State. With only five hours in port here, we were departing the same
night at the zero hour for Ferrok-Shahn, capital of the Martian Union.

We were no sooner at the landing stage than I found a code-flash
summoning Dan Dean and me to Divisional Detective Headquarters. Dan
"Snap" Dean was one of my closest friends. He was radio-helio operator
of the Planetara. A small, wiry, red-headed chap, with a quick, ready
laugh and a wit that made everyone like him.

The summons to Detective-Colonel Halsey's office surprised us. Snap eyed
me.

"You haven't been opening any treasury vaults, have you, Gregg?"

"He wants you, also," I retorted.

He laughed. "Well, he can roar at me like a traffic switchman and my
private life will remain my own."

We could not think why we should be wanted. It was the darkness of
mid-evening when we left the Planetara for Halsey's office. It was not a
long trip. We went direct in the upper monorail, descending into the
subterranean city at Park-Circle 30.

* * * * *

We had never been to Halsey's office before. We found it to be a gloomy,
vaultlike place in one of the deepest corridors. The door lifted.

"Gregg Haljan and Daniel Dean."

The guard stood aside. "Come in."

I own that my heart was unduly thumping as we entered. The door dropped
behind us. It was a small blue-lit apartment--a steel-lined room like a
vault.

Colonel Halsey sat at his desk. And the big, heavy-set, florid Captain
Carter--our commander of the Planetara--was here. That surprised us: we
had not seen him leave the ship.

Halsey