ie."

* * * * *

I must have looked extremely convincing, for Artie paled a little and
did not try to deny anything.

"--I can't, Sam," he said. "I gave the original tapes and sheets to
Willy. I threw away the duplicates."

"Dammit, Artie!" I shouted, now really mad. "Then you'd better start
remembering pretty good, because you're going to sit right down here
and I'm going to sit with you, and you are going to give me as nearly
as you can the course of Willy's asteroid."

This was just about an impossible request. I knew it, and Artie knew
it. But he sat down at the console of the computer and said:

"I'll do the best I can, Sam."

* * * * *

I went to Willy's room and banged on the door then threw it open. He
wasn't there. For sure then he would be someplace he wasn't supposed
to be. So I headed for one likely place.

Willy was there all right. The chef shuffled around nervously,
probably wondering if I'd just chew him out for letting Willy in the
galley, or tell Orrin. He offered me ham and eggs. I refused sharply.

"Elmer," I said, "blast off."

Elmer did.

As soon as Willy and I were alone, I said, "Willy, you got me and Mr.
Orrin in a pack of trouble. Why don't you tell me where the generator
and the converter are. If we can get them back to the stock room,
nothing can be proved."

Willy couldn't look me in the face. He added three too many spoons of
sugar to his coffee then stirred it so fast it spilled over the edge
of the cup.

"Come on, Willy. Where?"

Willy spent the next minute trying to turn inside out. He finally
squeaked. "I can't, Sam."

"Why not, Willy?"

It was my turn to be silent for a minute. It seemed a lot longer. I
said, "I think you better tell me all about it, Willy."

He did.

I went back to the recreation room.

The trideo was on and some narrator's voice was explaining and showing
the course of the ship on a chart, and just where it would go.

The ship was still unaccountably out of control. The plotted course
showed that it would intercept Mars. And a map of Mars showed
precisely where the ship would strike the surface.

Of all the barren areas on Mars where the ship could strike and do a
little less surface damage, it was headed instead straight for the
only densely populated, industrial area.

I looked at Goil and saw that his morale could be trod on. He probably
already had computed his own monet