The youth blinked at the topcoat over the man's arm. He focused upon the wavy hair and reached for the man's shoulder to turn him around. "Charlie Colborn!" he yelped. Smith got it first. "Well, now," he said, standing up. "If it's getting so everybody and his brother start parading through that door at this time of night, I'm leaving! Where's my hat, Si?" Lydman had caught on almost as quickly, and was on his feet before the general whoop went up. "I just want to phone my wife," said Colborn. "It's so late I might as well stay here the rest of the night. What's keeping all of you?" They glared at him. "The power's been on for fifteen minutes," he told them. "I would have been up sooner, but that nut of a building manager insisted on running test trips with all the elevators before he'd let anyone come up." Lydman had started for the elevator, in shirtsleeves as he was and carrying a cup of tea in one hand and a bloody handkerchief. There was no doubt that he meant to go home that way. "BOB!" roared Smith. "All of you--_listen_!" Lydman stopped but did not turn around. "In the first place, Charlie," said Smith, "you are _not_ going to call your wife from here unless you faithfully give the impression that you are all alone. If you slip, I'll swear to her I saw you picked up by two redheads in a helicopter and you had all the office petty cash with you." "But--" "Tell her the traffic was too much. Don't tell her we couldn't get to the street. That goes for everybody else too!" "But ... _why_?" Colborn got out. "Why? You want the D.I.R. boys throwing this up to us every time I try to get money out of them for the bare necessities of our operation? We can get people out of dungeons on planets not even in the Galatlas, but can't even escape from our own little hideaway?" "It never happened," Parrish agreed quickly. "Damn' right!" said Smith. "Okay, Bob, push the button! Go with him, Willie! You girls--nobody in before noon tomorrow; we have an extra TV operator to take care of things." "Look, I...." Colborn started to say as he stepped out of Westervelt's way. "Aw, thanks for phoning in the first place," grinned Smith, punching him lightly on the shoulder. "Wait for me downstairs, Willie! We'll see what we can do about Harris tomorrow!" "Appoint him an ambassador," muttered Westervelt, coming up behind Lydman as the elevator door slid smoothly open. _What an outfit!_ he thought to himself. _I'm going to apply for field duty, where you can get out among the stars and let someone else figure ways to keep you out of trouble._ Somehow, incredibly, everyone but Colborn managed to catch the same elevator. EARTHMEN IN TROUBLE Harris: was caged in an underwater "zoo" by a pack of blue lobsters. Maria: drew a five-year sentence on a puritanical planet for trying to buy a souvenir--and for being excessively feminine. Taranto & Meyers: had committed the crime of being shipwrecked on a planet that didn't like strangers.