"Flagship to Themis and all vessels. If you're that flush with fuel, how about passing some around? No pursuit authorized. All vessels take readings on By Jove!'s new orbit as long as it's in range. We'll alert the patrol to investigate when we're in radio range."

The ship's intercom buzzed.

"Albrekt!" It was the voice of Carrel, the captain.

"Yes?"

"We'll get to the reason for this damn fool stunt later. Right now, do you plan any further acceleration?"

"Later. I'll warn you in time to strap down."

"I should hope so. Those G's nearly killed Qoqol. This ship wasn't built for that sort of acceleration, you idiot. Half the seams are sprung and leaking air."

"Repair them, then," snapped Albrekt. "You'll have time."

During the long silence that ensued, Albrekt sat back and took stock of the situation. So far, everything had worked perfectly. The other tape given him by the Flanjo agent on Mars was to be run through the automatic pilot exactly 200 hours after the first one, when the By Jove!'s diverging orbit carried it beyond range of the convoy's meager radar equipment.

The control room would be his headquarters for the next few months, simply because the control room was the only deck of the By Jove! which could be locked against the rest of the ship. All the weapons—the heat guns—were in the control room, so Albrekt expected no trouble on that score.

It was going to be a dull journey from here on out, and Albrekt decided he would do well to learn as much as he could about handling a space ship. He swung the chair around and ran his eyes along the shelves of Carrel's microfilm library. The title Sailing Space, by Dr. Russo Alin, caught his attention.

Albrekt inserted the spool in the projector and started it. An intense bearded face appeared on the screen, and the recorder said:

"It is not generally known, except to students of technological history, that the steam powered and electric powered automobile gave the familiar gasoline powered automobile of the last century a close race for preference in early automotive history. The factors that caused the gasoline powered automobile to become predominant are not important here. What is important is that there were alternative methods of 

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