He recalled the first scene: shooting upward to the top offices of the Interworld Fuel Monopoly.... * * * * * Bill worked for the Monopoly as a kind of glorified errand boy. Everyone worked for monopolies in this day and age, freebooter or not. As he rode upward, he had an inkling that something important was disturbing the smoothly regulated mechanism of the world. The entire IWFM building buzzed with feverish activity. "Another fuel crisis," Bill murmured thoughtfully. He stepped from the elevator and hurried down a hall to a door marked--_Commissioner Castlebottom_, Fuel. Bill rapped. "Come in," said a voice. It was a smooth feminine voice, not Castlebottom's. Bill entered and was stared at from behind a desk. The eyes that were fastened upon him were worried and balloon-like. They belonged to Castlebottom, a youngish, rotund individual with a great deal of front. "So it's you at last," Castlebottom puffed. "Such delays! The crisis ... etheroel." Bill sniffed, then jockeyed his eyes around, searching for the other voice. It was then that he caught his breath.... Kitty Carlton was the woman of the moment, the toast of three worlds--Mars, Venus and Earth. The Planetoids didn't count for they were just colonies. Kitty was the very capable chief of the giant Cosmetics Monopoly. But she wasn't toasted for that. It was her very trim, blonde, dimpled loveliness that did the trick. Dressed in leatherine white from head to foot, she resembled a snow queen. "Petrie!" Castlebottom's strained voice jarred Bill back into the present. "Pay attention, please! That's the trouble with you freebooters. Minds always wander." "Do you blame me?" Bill murmured. "The matter in hand," Castlebottom said, frowning and paying no attention to the girl. "You know there's an etheroel crisis? We've tapped the last fuel sands on Venus. Our supply will be gone within a month. You know what that means?" "Where do I fit in?" Bill asked. "This, precisely," said Castlebottom. "You leave for Planetoid Uva immediately. We can't spare anyone else. Here are the _equals_ to be filled in by the Uvans. We've outlined the problem. We need a synthetic etheroel. The Uvans will give you the answer. Guard it with your life. Now you'll need credentials ... wait...." Castlebottom was up from his desk. He disappeared into a side office. "Freebooter, eh?" It was Kitty Carlton. She had crossed the room and now sat on the edge of Castlebottom's desk, looking at Bill with frank, deep-blue eyes. "Very interesting. You're the first one I've ever seen this close. You don't look very different." "So you think," Bill grinned. "You ought to hear my side of the difference. How about lunch any one of these years?" The girl's penciled brows knitted. "With a freebooter? No!" Her lips parted with a vague smile. "But if you were ... ah ... for example, a monopoly commissioner like Tubby--" "Tubby?" asked Bill. "Yes, Castlebottom, my fiancé."