"I don't know what you're talking about, Mannion."

"The hell you don't! You don't know anything about the hypnomech you used to block my mind and—"

Dan ducked suddenly as a spurt of energy from the proton-gun in Dubrow's hand seared through the wall behind him. Dubrow was aiming the gun, readying to fire again—

And Judge Harkness rose from the bench and hurled a heavy law-book at him.

It struck Dubrow squarely on the side of the head; the bolt of proton-force squirted toward the ceiling and Dan leaped forward.

He crashed into Dubrow and knocked the tall officer sprawling; the proton-gun clattered to the floor. Dubrow squirmed and kicked but Dan's fists thundered against his body.

"Hypnotize me, will you? And try to frame me for that mutiny? I'll—"

"All right, Mannion," a calm voice said from somewhere above him. "You can get off him now. He's out cold."

Judge Harkness faced Dan and Virginia Mannion. "I don't understand why you didn't speak up, son."

"I—I assumed I was wrong, sir. I've always been trained to respect the word of an officer. If Commander Dubrow said I was guilty and I didn't remember—well, sir, he had to be right!"

Harkness chuckled. "You know differently now. We've had a mind-probe run on Dubrow. It seems he was bribed by a group of private contractors to wreck the Patrol's project on Iapetus so they could get the job instead. He figured he'd have you tried for the crime, leaving him in the clear. So all he did was switch the action around and then hypnotize you into forgetting it."

"What's going to happen to him now?" Mannion asked.

"What else? He's being erased now. Commander Dubrow no longer exists."

Mannion shuddered. He remembered vividly that complex pile of machinery on the 14th Level.

"I guess I'm free, then," he said.

Harkness nodded. "I guess you are, young man. And next time don't be so ready to believe your own guilt."

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