k or so."

"I'm not too familiar with the man, sir. He was on Captain Arnold's
shift, I believe."

"Captain Meford," Mr. Ryan insisted, "when did you say you first
discovered the aliens?"

Captain Meford hesitated. The others waited.

"They were then scaling the cliff, sir."

"And General Shorter, was he told of this immediately?" Mr. Ryan asked.

"I don't know when the general was told."

"You discovered them?"

"Yes, sir. I ... you see, at the time the winds completely prohibited
air traffic. As you know, the air scouts are not stable enough until ...
later. Later, I ... Yes, sir. I discovered them."

"Did you then inform the general?"

"No, sir. I informed the duty officer."

"Did he inform the general?"

"I don't know."

"Why didn't you tell the general?" Mr. Tucker asked.

"I was then in communication with Captain Geiger, and I felt he...." The
sentence trailed away.

"Would tell the general?" Mr. Tucker prompted. "Well, did he?"

"I believe he did, sir," Captain Meford said. He let out a long breath.

"May we see the aliens?" Mr. Ryan asked.

"I wouldn't advise it, sir," Captain Meford said. "High flights are
still very risky because of the wind velocities."

* * * * *

After the evening meal, General Shorter called Captain Arnold aside.
"Mind if I go over to Nine with you?" he asked. "The air around here
is--well, the fact of the matter is, I'd like to get away from them for
awhile."

"Of course not, sir," Captain Arnold said.

"We'll call it an inspection. Which might be a good idea at that. With
these people running around trying to interfere with my schedule. Poking
around. Asking questions. Taking men away from their work, basically."
He tapped his teeth with his right thumb in reflection. "I'd better
check up on all the domes tonight, just to be sure."

"Yes, sir."

"I wouldn't want anything to go wrong because they're here."

In the dressing quarters, they donned surface suits and exited through
the locks to Miracastle. In the area immediately beyond the Dome, the
solidly positioned connection rails radiated away. The general gestured
for the captain to lead.

The wind buffeted them. Inside the surface suits it was quiet.

"David?" the general asked.

"Yes, sir?" Captain Arnold said. He was fastening his safety line in the
keyed slot. He fumbled with it for a moment before the wind.

"You on suit communications?"

"Yes, sir." Captain Arn