from Mars at that time.

It had taken some belligerent persuasion to get Artie to conjure up
the figures and tapes I gave Goil.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and glanced up. Simon, one of the tug
pilots, was pointing toward the back of the room. I looked back.
Artie was there with a worried look on his face looking at me. His
eyes moved quickly toward where Goil sat, and then back at me. His
head gave a little backwards jerk.

Feeling real unhappy all of a sudden as premonition nudged my mind, I
got up quietly and went back.

Artie had stepped outside in the hall. When he saw me step out of the
rec room doorway, he motioned me down the hall farther. Gloom was all
over his face, even in his motions. He said:

"Sam, I don't know what's going on around here between Willy, Goil,
and you. But I thought you'd like to know Goil was in to see me a
little while ago. Before I had much of a chance to think about it, I
gave him the figures and tapes for that course I plotted for Willy. I
don't know how Goil knew about them, but he asked for them directly."

"Which figures, Art?" I asked anxiously.

"Why, the ones I made for you. Is there something wrong, Sam?"

My alarm must have shown in my face. I said, "No, Art. I thought maybe
you might have given him that other course I asked you to plot."

"You mean that false course? Hell, Sam. I didn't know--"

"It's all right, Art. You didn't know." And I left him standing there
puzzled. I went back to the rec room.

I wasn't feeling so good by the time I got back. My seat had been
taken, so I wriggled myself a place against the back wall.

Goil knew all about the fictitious course I gave him. Right there he
had me cold. But he was too worried to want to do anything about it
then.

The time seemed to stand still. The crew still had some fifteen
minutes before they were due to abandon ship, so I left the rec room
to sneak out to the galley for a cup of coffee. When I entered, there
was Artie and Elmer already having coffee.

Artie said, "Sit down, Sam, and have a cup."

Elmer poured, and I gulped half the cupful down gratefully, then said,
"Aren't you two going to watch the runaway crack into Mars?"

"Sure," said Artie. "I've got a small monitor screen in the com room.
Want to join us?"

I did and said so. We all drank another cup of coffee and then went to
the communications room. The three of us could sit and comfortably
watch the small monitor.

A series of montages