e there seems an obvious solution.

I am thinking this over in an academic sort of way when an itchy
trickle of sweat starts down my vertebrae.

Who is going to apply this solution? Because if this is anything but
another Test, or the output of a diseased sense of humor, I would be
sorry for somebody.

I dial black coffee on the wall servitor and wish B were here so we
could prove to each other the thing is just an exercise; I do not do
so well at spotting proofs on my own.

Most of our class exercises have concerned something that happened,
once.

* * * * *

After about ninety minutes the speaker requests me to write not more
than one thousand words on any scheme to improve the situation and the
equipment required for it.

I spent ten minutes verbalizing the basic idea and an hour or so on
"equipment"; the longer I go on the more unlikely it all seems. In the
end I have maybe two hundred words which acting on instructions I post
through a slit in the door.

Five minutes later I realize I have forgotten the Time Factor.

[Illustration]

If the original ship took a year to reach Incognita, it will take at
least four months now; therefore it is more than four months since
that report was written and will be more than a year before anyone
arrives and War may have started already.

I sit back and by transition of ideas start to wonder where this ship
is heading? We are still at one gee and even on Mass-Time you cannot
juggle apparent acceleration and spatial transition outside certain
limits; we are not just orbiting but must be well outside the Solar
System by now.

The speaker announces Everyone will now get some rest; I smell
sleep-gas for one moment and have just time to lie down.

I guess I was tired, at that.

When I wake I feel more cheerful than I have for weeks; analysis
indicates I am glad something is _happening_ even if it is another
Exam.

I dial breakfast but am too restless to eat; I wonder how long this
goes on or whether I am supposed to show Initiative and break out; I
am examining things with this in mind when the speaker comes to life
again.

It says, "Ladies and gentlemen. You have not been told whether the
problem that you studied yesterday concerned a real situation or an
imaginary one. You have all outlined measures which you think would
improve the situation described. Please consider, seriously, whether
you would be prepared to take part yoursel