Halfway across the room Rip turned suddenly and bumped into Sergeant-major Koa. Koa fell to the deck, arms flailing for balance—but flailing against his protective clothing. The other Planeteers rushed to pick him up, and somehow all their arms and hands beat against each other. The protective clothing was saturated with fine dust. It rose from them in a choking cloud, was picked up, and dispersed by the ventilating system. It was contaminated dust. The automatic radiation safety equipment filled the ship with an ear-splitting buzz of warning. Spacemen clapped emergency respirators to their faces and spoke unkindly of Rip’s Planeteers in the saltiest space language they could think of. Rip and his men picked up Koa and continued their march to the decontamination room, grinning under their respirators at the consternation around them. There was no danger to the spacemen since they had clapped on respirators the moment the warning sounded. But even a little contamination meant the whole ship had to be gone over with instruments, and the ventilating system would have to be cleaned. The deputy commander met Rip at the door of the radiation room. Above the respirator, his face looked furious. "Lieutenant," he bellowed. "Haven’t you any more sense than to bring contaminated clothing into the engine control room?" Rip was sorry the deputy commander couldn’t see him grinning under his respirator. He said innocently, "No, sir. I haven’t any more sense than that." The deputy grated, "I’ll have you up before the Discipline Board for this." Rip was enjoying himself thoroughly. "I don’t think so, sir. The regulations are very clear. They say, ’It is the responsibility of the safety officer to insure compliance with all safety regulations both by complete instructions to personnel and personal supervision.’ Your safety officer didn’t instruct us and he didn’t supervise us. You better run him up before the Board." The deputy commander made harsh sounds into his respirator. Rip had him, and he knew it. "He thought even a stupid Planeteer had sense enough to obey radiation safety rules," he yelled. "He was wrong," Rip said gently. Then, just to make himself perfectly clear, he added, "Commander O’Brine was within his rights when he made us rake radiation. But he forgot one thing. Planeteers know the regulations, too. Excuse me, sir. I have to get my men decontaminated." Inside the decontamination chamber, the Planeteers took off their masks and faced Rip with admiring grins. For a moment he grinned back, feeling pretty good. He had held his own with the spacemen, and he sensed that his men liked him. "All right," he said briskly. "Strip down and get into the showers."