But his mood was changing to match Karin's. His lean, firm-jawed features were turning serious. Tension tightened his powerful body. "It must be important, Case," Karin said. "They're using your code call. They wouldn't do that unless it was urgent." He listened to the tick of the machine. Unless you knew, it sounded only like the regular ticking that told the machine was in operation. But there were little breaks here and there. It _was_ for him. Three long strides took him to the machine. His deft fingers flicked switches, brought a glow to the video tubes. "Case Damon," he said softly. "Come in, Washington." It was Cranly's face that filled the screen. But a Cranly Case barely recognized. The man had aged ten years in the last three days. His voice was desperate. "Good grief, man! Where've you been? Get down here fast. But fast!" "Listen, Cranly. I'm on my honeymoon. Or have you forgotten? Remember three days ago you were best man at a wedding? Well, the fellow at the altar was Case Damon." That should have gotten a smile out of Cranly. But it didn't. He was even a little angry now. "This is an order, Case! I'm giving you the honor of being the first non-official person to know about it. Supreme Emergency Mobilization and Evacuation Order. New York was blasted out of existence an hour ago!" * * * * * All flights grounded, the skyport in a turmoil, but that little silver card got him and Karin through. Nobody knew yet what was going on. They were readying for something big, but they didn't know what as yet. Case hurried Karin to his own hangar, bustled her into the small speeder. "The fishing cabin on the Columbia, honey. Stay there! And don't worry if you don't hear from me." He didn't even wait to see her take off. Karin would be safe enough. The cabin was a hundred miles from any possible military objective. All he had to do was sit tight until things were straightened out. New York blasted! That could have been an accident. It _must_ have been an accident. The only alternative would be war. And there were no more wars. Somebody at Supreme Council must have lost his head to issue the E.M.E. order. Sure, that was it. Leave it to the politicos to get excited and jump out of their skins. Below him the glistening towers of Kansas City flashed and faded and were replaced minutes later by the towers of St. Louis. Chicago was batting out a "clear the sky order." All three of those cities would have been gone by now if there were really a war, Case told himself. But Cranly was no politician. And he wasn't the kind that scared easily. It was Cranly who met him at Washington skyport. Cranly was scared, all right. He was more frightened than he'd been the time their ship had started to tear loose from their mooring on that moon of Jupiter. His face was gray.