their struggle against destiny! He had known he couldn't, from the time Floring had first appeared. He spoke as casually as he could. "Yes, I've looked it over. It's one of the most ingenious metal-finders I've ever seen." Carlin felt a queer relief that was almost happiness, as he spoke. For he knew now that he could never have obstructed these people in their brave, desperate struggle to revive their planet. But Ross Floring looked astounded. A little blank frown of surprise came into his face and he stared steadily at Carlin. "Then you approve of Jonny's plans?" he said quietly, "But, of course, I might have known that he'd convince you." There was double meaning to the Control officer's words, clear to all of them. Yet they all ignored it. Floring was temporarily defeated. He couldn't take action without expert opinion that the machine before him was for Sun-mining. He had expected such an opinion from Carlin, and had been disappointed. But he was not completely frustrated. Carlin found out now how thorough and resourceful was this pleasant young officer. "It would be a shame, Jonny," Floring remarked casually, "if you should run into disaster on this trip and the design of your new apparatus be lost. A metal-finder like this is too valuable to lose." They were momentarily puzzled by the comment. But in the next moment, Floring showed what he had in mind. He drew from his jacket pocket a tiny tri-dimen camera, stepped close to the towering dredge, and before anyone could prevent it had snapped a half-dozen pictures of its interior mechanism. Harb Land started forward with a smothered oath. But it was too late. Floring was already pocketing the camera. "I'll keep these films," he said calmly. "If your machine should ever be lost, the design of it will be preserved this way." "You can't keep those films!" Harb Land exclaimed angrily. "You've no right!" "You surely don't think I would steal the design from you?" Floring said, with a look of surprise. "It isn't that," Harb protested. "But—"
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