Arden soothed Don's feelings by sitting on his lap and snuggling. "Dear," she said in a voice that positively dripped, "we're on a honeymoon, remember?" Don stood up, dumping Arden to the floor. "Yeah," he said, "but this is the highest velocity honeymoon that I ever took!" "And it's the first one I was ever on where the bridegroom took more time admiring beam installations than he took to whisper sweet nothings to his gal. What has a beam transmitter got that I haven't got?" "One: Its actions can be predicted. Two: It can be controlled. Three: It never says anything original, but only repeats what it has been told. Four: It can be turned off." Arden caught Don on the point of the chin with a pillow and effectively smothered him. She followed her slight advantage with a frontal attack that carried him backward across the bed, where she landed on top viciously and proceeded to lambaste him with the other pillow. It was proceeding according to plan, this private, good-natured war, until a knock on the door caused a break in operations. Channing struggled out from beneath Arden and went to the door trying to comb his hair by running spread fingers through it. He went with a sense of failure caused by Arden's quiet laugh and the statement that he resembled a bantam rooster. * * * * * The man at the door apologized, and then said: "I'm Doug Thomas of the _Triworld News_." "Come in," said Don, "and see if you can find a place to sit." "Thanks." "I didn't know that _Triworld News_ was interested in the wedded life of the Channings. Why doesn't _Triworld_ wait until we find out about it ourselves?" "_Triworld_ does not care to pry into the private life of the newly wed Channing family," laughed Doug. "We, and the rest of the System do not give a damn whether Mrs. Channing calls you Bunny-bit or Sugar-pie--" "Sweetums," corrected Arden with a gleam in her eye. "--we've got something big to handle. I can't get a thing out of the gang at Canalopsis, they're all too busy worrying." "And so you came here? What do you expect to get out of us? We're not connected in any way with Canalopsis." "I know," said Doug, "but you do know space. Look, Channing, the _Solar Queen_ has been missing since yesterday morning!" Don whistled. "See what I mean? What I want to know is this: What is your opinion on the matter? You've lived in space for years, on the Relay Station, and you've had experience beyond anybody I can reach." "Missing since yesterday morning," mused Channing. "That means trouble." "That's what I thought. Now if you were running the spaceport at Canalopsis, what would your own private opinion be?" "I don't know whether I should speak for publication," said Don.