"Deev John Gray, Third Sarge Elfor sends greetings and desires that you confer with him. The others will be free to continue their inspection of the military city of Pebbro." "Very well," agreed John. "Ann, you'd better come along with me to take notes on the conference. We'll see you two tonight, if not sooner." He motioned to the officer to lead the way, and the group went up the street, leaving Phil and Fran standing in the shadow of a towering building. "What's your theory, Phil?" asked Fran. "Simple," he answered. "The Jovian war wiped out civilization. They've just climbed back up part of the way, but they still don't know how to operate the machinery and use the power they have available." "I don't know about that," said Fran doubtfully. "They seem to know how to handle those cannon and searchlights at the spaceport all right." "Automatic control, probably, or--" Phil paused. He was peering through a barred window at street level. "Say, Fran, look here! Unless I miss my guess, this is a central power station!" Fran stooped to look. "I think you're right," she said. "But it's deserted." "Proof of my theory," he said triumphantly. "Now, if we can just find a door somewhere...." * * * * * John and Ann had been back from a very routine conference with Elfor for more than an hour, and were enjoying the informality of the officers' cocktail lounge in their building. They were aroused by a commotion in the street outside and, along with several off-duty officers in the lounge, ran to the window to see what was up. Phil and Fran, seated in a military jeep, were surrounded by excited soldiers. Some sort of argument was in progress, and John and Ann heard the word "credentials" mentioned. Just as several of the soldiers, with drawn swords, dragged the couple from the jeep, one of the officers from the lounge hurried to the scene. The soldiers stood aside and saluted. There was a heated discussion, with much gesticulating, then Phil and Fran were released and headed for the lounge. The officer got into the jeep and shifted gears. All the soldiers whipped out their swords and stood rigid, presenting arms, as he drove it to the curb at the opposite side of the street. Then he turned off the engine and got out. A guard was posted around it, and a little later a team of horses arrived to pull it away. "How did you people get into such a predicament?" asked John when the show was over and the four of them were enjoying drinks. "Oh, I don't think it was as serious as it looked," said Phil lightly. "We ran across a whole garage full of jeeps. We drove that one all over town before this gang stopped us and wanted to see our written authority for driving it. Everybody else saluted us. That's the military mind for you." "Didn't it occur to you that their objections might be something other than mere military regulations?" asked John in some asperity.