"It was at the Jovian Feast of the Moons," Snyder related. "I had an argument with a Martian girl and he tried to interfere. I killed them both. She was a little cheat and he was a threat. I had to break both his arms before I could use the knife. He had a strong heart. He bled...." Somehow the Patrol officer found the control bucket. He swallowed a full handful of Synthetic Sleep capsules. The mirror blurred and he tried to watch Snyder and think of Bates and the native and the motorsled in the snow. He told himself he had guts, but he was too tired and sick to hear his own thoughts. _He wanted to kill._ Mars loomed up a swollen orange and swept astern. At thirty-six hours he attached a leash to the Moon mimic's fur hidden collar. It stopped the inane jumping. The hands of the chronometer spun and there began a series of blank spaces which neither realization nor Synthetic Sleep could stop. He saw Johnny and the spaceline, Bates, the lobster-faced Jovians. The roaring jets became a lullaby. At forty-one hours he pulled out the blaster and moved to confront Snyder. The fat man looked up with the same cynical smile. "Give it to me," Logan ordered. "What?" "The file. I've been watching you." The giant shrugged, brought the file in view and continued to saw at his chains. "This is Oscar's donation," he said. "I hid it in his collar. If you want it, take it with that." He nodded to the blaster. Logan hesitated, licked his lips, then brought the gun down hard along a fleshy temple. The smile faded and the fat man folded. He took the file, searched the surroundings, the blankets in the corner, found nothing and returned to the controls. The odds were mounting against him. Maybe next time.... * * * * * When Edward Snyder regained consciousness an hour later, Logan's eyes hadn't left the mirror. The giant didn't smile anymore. Shortly he became occupied with his pet, making grabbing motions at the air. The chronometer moved faster. There was Earth to look at--green, peaceful Earth. He had done it! A few more hours and the nightmare would be over! Lord, how he wanted sleep! He computed his primary orbit and tuned in the Lunar Patrol station. "Logan calling...." "Go ahead, Lieutenant." The cherub face of the Moon's radaronics operator appeared on the scanning screen. "Requesting landing instructions from Earth via Moon." His set was too small to receive through Earth's atmosphere. The Moon acted as a relay station. "Make ground contact at--" "Do it--do it." The mental command aimed at the Moon mimic hit Logan's brain like a hot iron. Its hairy little arm shot past him, grabbed the ignition jumper wire as it had watched Snyder grab air, and jerked it loose. As the engines died and the blue emergency lights faded on, Snyder laughed and the mimic screeched, jumping about, waving its prize and dragging the frayed leash the killer had broken.