reaching for the communication disk on the far side of his desk when Langford reached inside his uniform for the second time. When the big man withdrew his hand he was clasping an automatic pistol.

Gurney took a swift step backward, his eyes widening in alarm. "So the guards forgot to search you!"

"I'm afraid they did, sir!" Langford said, quietly. "Sit down. I'm going to ask a small favor. A port clearance permit, signed and sealed by you; if you give me your word you won't move until I've cleared the port I won't tie you up."

Gurney sat down and stared at the young space officer in scornful mockery. "Suppose I refuse to promise anything. Would you blast me down in cold blood?"

Langford hesitated. His jaw tightened and a candid defiance came into his stare. "No!" he said.

"Then if you're not prepared to murder me you haven't got what it takes to exact a promise!" Gurney said.

Langford shook his head. "That's sheer sophistry," he pointed out. "I've just laid my cards on the table. If you take advantage of my good faith you'll be hitting below the belt. You see, sir, there's something I've got to do; if I fail I'll come back and give myself up."

For a moment not a muscle of Gurney's face moved. Then he shrugged and glanced at his wrist watch. "I'll sit perfectly still for exactly fifteen minutes, Langford," he said. "That should give you sufficient time to clear the port."

His eyes narrowed to steely slits. "But heaven help you when I move!"

"Fair enough!" Langford said.

Ten minutes later the Patrol captain was climbing into a small jet plane at the edge of the spaceport. Far to the east the skyline of Mars City rose above the horizon like a glittering copper penny swimming in a nebulous haze. A penny flipped in desperation that had miraculously come heads.

Part of the wonder he felt was due to his knowledge that he would soon be flying straight through the penny toward a tall white building he would have braved the sun to scale.

2

A grave-faced physician met Langford at the end of the corridor and beckoned him into a small white-walled room. The physician was not talkative; he didn't need to be. The girl who sat under the bright lamps 

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