Lefler moved aside, letting Taat see Makki's body. Taat's eyes widened momentarily, then narrowed with a professional gleam. He stepped quickly to Makki's side, made as if to pick up the dead captain's wrist, then turned back to Lefler with a fatalistic flick of his hands. "What was it, Lefler?" he asked in a low voice. "A fight?" "I don't know," said Lefler. "I found him that way." Taat raised his eyebrows. "Robwood?" he asked softly. Robwood's head poked up through the companionway, and he floated into the control room. There was a streak of grease across the engineer's thin face. "Great space!" exclaimed Robwood at once. "What happened to Makki?" "Obviously, he's been shot," said Lefler in an even voice. "Any idea who did it, Robwood?" "Wait a minute," objected Taat mildly. "That sounds like you are accusing Robwood, Lefler." "I'm not," said Lefler hastily. "I'm not leaving you out, Taat. But there are only the three of us. One of you must have killed him." "Great space, you don't think that I--" began Robwood. "Just to get the record straight, Lefler," interrupted Taat, "let's put it this way: one of the three of us must have killed him." * * * * * It was not only Lefler's duty watch; as astrogator, he became acting captain as a result of Makki's death. Moving to the side of the dead Makki, he turned the ship's radio transmitter toward distant Earth and pressed the sending key. "_Marsward IV_ to White Sands," he called. "_Marsward IV_ to White Sands." It would be several minutes before a reply could reach them. Taat, on the other side of the control chair, was examining Makki's corpse. Robwood stood peering over his shoulder. Lefler waited to see which one would comment first on the fact that Makki was wearing gloves. Neither appeared to notice it. But the gloves put a thought into Lefler's own mind. Fingerprints! He looked around the control room and found the heat-gun, bumping against the celestial camera. He pushed himself across the room, pulling a handkerchief from the back pocket of his coveralls as he did so. He wrapped the heat-gun in the handkerchief, stuck it in a drawer beneath one of the control panels, locked the drawer and put the key in his pocket. The loudspeaker buzzed. "_Marsward IV_, this is Capetown," said a slightly wavery voice. "We're relaying you to White Sands. Go ahead, please." Lefler picked up the mike. "_Marsward IV_ to White Sands," he said. "This is Lefler, astrogator. Makki, captain, shot to death under unknown circumstances. I am assuming command. Instructions, please." Taat turned away from Makki's body. "He's been dead about thirty minutes." Taat looked at the control room chronometer. It said 1906 hours. "I'm going to list the time in the death certificate as 1830." "You can tell?" asked Robwood in astonishment. "By the eyes," said Taat.