to make further inspection but Marn had found the instruments she had come after.

As they emerged from the ship, a lean, uniformed figure in the dusk greeted them in a pleasant voice.

"Hello, Marn. I saw you walking across the tarmac. How is Jonny coming with his plans?"

It was a young man in the gray uniform of Control Operations, the agency of law and order throughout the galaxy. He bowed to Carlin.

"I'm Ross Floring, Control Operations commander here. You're the Earth-treatment chap staying with the Lands? Glad to meet you."

Floring was not more than thirty, an alert, clean-cut, likable young man. He turned back to Marn.

"How soon are Jonny and his friends planning to take off for Mercury?"

Marn looked uncomfortable. "I don't know, Ross. They have some more preparations to make, they say."

Carlin somehow sensed a strain in the atmosphere. There was an earnestness in Floring's manner that was not accounted for by his words.

"I like Jonny a lot, Marn," he said seriously. "You know that. I'd hate to see him have trouble on this expedition."

Marn seemed to evade his meaning. "Jonny won't have any trouble. A trip to Mercury is nothing for Harb and him."

"I sincerely hope he won't," Floring said quietly. "Copper isn't worth risking too much for. Tell him I said so, will you? And tell him I'm coming up some day to talk with him."

Marn was obviously eager to get away. Carlin, puzzled, followed her.

"I'll see you again, Mr. Carlin," Floring called after him pleasantly. "We can have a talk about home. Yes, I come from Canopus too."

It wasn't until they were in the ato-truck driving homeward that Carlin realized he hadn't told Floring his name or origin. Why would Control Operations have taken the trouble to check up on that?

"Floring seemed like a nice chap," he told Marn. The girl nodded, troubled.

"He is—one of the best," she said. "And he likes Jonny. But he'd forget everything else for his duty."

She was, obviously, 

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