Before the _Dauntless_ was serviced for the flight into the unknown Kinnison changed his mind. He was vaguely troubled about the trip. It was nothing as definite as a "hunch"; hunches are, the Gray Lensman knew, the results of the operation of an extrasensory perception possessed by all of us in greater or lesser degree. It was probably not an obscure warning to his super-sense from another, more pervasive dimension. It was, he thought, a repercussion of the doubt in Xylpic's mind that the fading out of the men's bodies had been due to simple invisibility. "I think I'd better go alone, chief," he informed the Port Admiral one day. "I'm not quite as sure as I was as to just what they've got." "What difference does that make?" Haynes demanded. "Lives," was the terse reply. "_Your_ life is what I'm thinking about. You'll be safer with the big ship, you can't deny that." "We-ll, perhaps. But I don't want--" "What you want is immaterial." "How about a compromise? I'll take Worsel and Van Buskirk. When the Overlords hypnotized him that time it made Bus so mad that he's been taking treatments from Worsel. Nobody can hypnotize him now, Worsel says, not even an Overlord." "No compromise. I can't order you to take the _Dauntless_, since your authority is transcendent. You can take anything you like. I can, however, and shall, order the _Dauntless_ to ride your tail wherever you go." "QX, I'll have to take her then." Kinnison's voice grew somber. "But suppose half the crew don't get back--and that I do?" "Isn't that what happened on the _Brittania_?" "No," came flat answer. "We were all taking the same chance then--it was the luck of the draw. This is different." "How different?" "I've got better equipment than they have. I'd be a murderer, cold." "Not at all, no more than then. You had better equipment then, too, you know, although not as much of it. Every commander of men has that same feeling when he sends men to death. But put yourself in my place. Would you send one of your best men, or let him go alone on a highly dangerous mission when more men or ships would improve his chances? Answer that, honestly." "Probably I wouldn't," Kinnison admitted, reluctantly. "QX. Take all the precautions you can--but I don't have to tell you that. I know you will." * * * * * Therefore it was the _Dauntless_ in which Kinnison set out a day or two later. With him were Worsel and Van Buskirk, as well as the vessel's full operating crew of Tellurians. As they approached the region of space in which Xylpic's vessel had been attacked every man in the crew got his armor in readiness for instant use, checked his side arms, and took his emergency battle station. Kinnison turned then to Worsel. "How d'you feel, fellow old snake?" he asked.