gh. Immense bolts of lightning flashed
and snapped and crackled; thunder crashed and rolled and rumbled; rain
fell, and continued to fall, like a cloud-burst in Colorado. And shortly
thereafter--first by square feet and then by acres and then by square
miles--the surface of the golop began to die. To die, that is, if it had
ever been even partially alive. At least it stopped sparkling, darkened,
and froze into thick skins; which broke up into blocks; which in turn
sank--thus exposing an ever-renewed surface to the driving, pelting,
relentlessly cascading rain.

"Well, I don't know that there's anything to hold us here any longer,"
Garlock said, finally. "Shall we go?"

They went; but it was several days before any of the wanderers really
felt like smiling; and Lola did not recover from her depression for over
a week.

CHAPTER 5

Supper was over, but the four were still at the table, sipping coffee
and smoking. During a pause in the casual conversation, James suddenly
straightened up.

"I want an official decision, Clee," he said, abruptly. "While we're out
of touch with United Worlds you, as captain of the ship and director of
the project, are Boss, with a capital B. The Lord of Justice, High and
Low. The Works. Check?"

"On paper, yes; with my decisions subject to appeal and/or review when
we get back to Base. In practice, I didn't expect to have to make any
very gravid rulings."

"I never thought you'd have to, either, but Belle fed me one with a bone
in it, so...."

"Just a minute. How official do you want it? Full formal, screens down
and recorded?"

"Not unless we have to. Let's explore it first. As of right now, are we
under the Code or not?"

"Of course we are."

"Not necessarily," Belle put in, sharply. "Not slavishly to the letter.
We're so far away and our chance of getting back is so slight that it
should be interpreted in the light of common sense."

* * *

Garlock stared at Belle and she stared back, her eyes as clear and
innocent as a baby's.

"The Code is neither long enough nor complicated enough to require
interpretation," Garlock stated, finally. "It either applies in full and
exactly or not at all. My ruling is that the Code applies, strictly,
until I declare the state of Ultimate Contingency. Are you ready, Belle,
to abandon the project, find an uninhabited Tellurian world, and begin
to populate it?"

"Well, not quite, perhaps."

"Yes or no,