l belt. The man gestured to the others
to duck back out of harm's way. Then, his throwing arm reared back and
sent a pellet sailing in a high arc. It landed at Lance's feet and burst
instantly. Yellowish gas billowed out. Its acrid fumes penetrated
Lance's throat and nostrils. He began coughing. Then, all the fight
suddenly ebbed from him. His knees buckled. He was stumbling, falling.
The sky reeled.

And very indistinctly, from far away, came the colonel's voice, barking:
"Put him in the brig until he recovers. I repeat, let nobody see him.
And another thing--I declare everything that's happened here today
classified information. If a single word leaks out, I'll have every
man-jack among you placed in solitary and held for court-martial."

Then, Lance knew nothing more.

* * * * *

When at last he recovered consciousness and was able to sit up in a kind
of groggy stupor, Lance found himself, for the first time in fifteen
service-devoted years, on the inside of a guardhouse looking out.

With sardonic melancholy, he recalled times on his O.D. and O.G. tours
when he had inspected various prison areas, peered into the cells, and
often felt mildly sorry for some poor spaceman doing time for some minor
infraction. There had never been very many offenders. Discipline on
space bases was not a pressing problem: the corps was an elite branch
and intransigent candidates were weeded out quick.

Well, now he was a prisoner, himself. He, Lance Cooper, Major, Space
Service, stood behind bars. And no matter how hard his face pressed
against those bars, he could only see as far as the corridor extended in
either direction.

It wasn't far enough.

Nor would anybody talk to him. He couldn't even get the time of day.

Not since his probation as a plebe, had he consorted with such a bunch
of "hush-mouths." Had he no rights as a commissioned officer and a world
citizen? He still didn't know why he was incarcerated, or what
regulation he had broken.

But that wasn't his most nagging worry.

What preyed on his mind most was Carolyn.

_Where was she?_

_Where? Where? WHERE?_

He could have lowered his head and pounded it to a pulp against the
wall, in his rage and frustration at being confined. But banging his
brains out wouldn't help. Besides, he was going to stand deeply in need
of his gray matter, if he hoped to get out of this one.

At evening time, a guardhouse trusty brought him his supp