"You—killed your own father?" It was the only thing Ricker could think of to say.

"Trexel killed him," she said. The phrase seemed to harden her again. "I saw him coming out of the laboratory after father was—. But I couldn't prove it. He had a perfect alibi. And after the inquest, he tried to kill me—twice. I became Molly Borden to escape him, then got the idea of following it through. There was just a chance that confessing the murder might arouse Trexel's curiosity, make him get in touch with me. I took the chance—and it worked...."

It was too much to believe. "You mean you acted suspicious, let the police catch you and burned something to look like those plans? You risked a life sentence on Pluto—!"

"It was the only way. I played free-lance thief—Trexel believed I was at the laboratory after he left. I told him I stole what I thought were the plans. I told him the police frightened me into a confession of the murder—and they were none too gentle."

"But why didn't you tell the police—before you left for Pluto. They could have—"

"I could trust no one. At first I planned to tell at the last minute but after his message came—in jail—I knew I couldn't. It was delivered by the district attorney himself. He told me I would be taken from the ship before I reached Pluto."

Ricker understood a lot of things now. It was like finishing a jig-saw puzzle, when all the pieces are suddenly seen to fit. "Does Trexel know who you are yet?"

"I tried to kill him after you left," she said. "But I had only a knife—he was too strong. You saved my life when you stole the ship. Trexel went after you. I watched from the window."

Ricker glanced toward the window. The light was gone and in the room itself crept the chill of the darkness outside. The heat units were dull red embers.

Ricker sat up quickly. Swift pain drove him back down. "We've got to get out of here!" he said. "This place'll be a block of ice in no time, air and all! We can steal a ship and—"

"Steal it?" said the woman. "There's no one to stop you. The workers are dead. There's nothing to stop you—but the cold outside. It's sudden death out there now. It's too late."

Ricker gritted his teeth, arose despite the lightning pain. He waved aside her restraining hand, sat on the edge of the sofa 

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