* * * * * Newman flitted--fast--and Barbara, turning to her husband, opened her mouth to speak and shut it. No, he would have killed the man; he would have _had_ to. He still might have to. Wherefore she said instead: "Why'd you let him keep his pistol? The ... the _slime_! And after you actually saved his life, too!" "With some people what's past doesn't count. The other was just a gesture. Psychology. It'll slow him down, I think. Besides, he'd have another one as soon as we get back into the _Procyon_." "But you can lock up _all_ their guns, can't you?" Bernice asked. "I'm afraid not. How about the other three, Herc?" "With thanks to you, Barbara, for the word; slime. If Lopresto is a financier, I'm an angel, with wings and halo complete. Gangsters; hoodlums; racketeers; you'd have to open every can of concentrate aboard to find all their spare artillery." "Check. The first thing to do is----" "One word first," Bernice put in. "I want to thank you, First Off--no, not First Officer, but I could hardly----" "Sure you can. I'm 'Babe' to us all, and you're 'Bun'. As to the other, forget it. You and I, Herc, will go over and----" "And I," Adams put in, definitely. "I must photograph everything, before it is touched; therefore I must be the first on board. I must do some autopsies and also----" "Of course. You're right," Deston said. "And if I haven't said it before, I'm tremendously glad to have a Big Brain along ... oh, excuse that crack, please, Dr. Adams. It slipped out on me." Adams laughed. "In context, I regard that as the highest compliment I have ever received. To you youngsters my advanced age of fifty-two represents senility. Nevertheless, you men need not 'Doctor' me. Either 'Adams' or 'Andy' will do very nicely. As for you two young women----" "I'm going to call you 'Uncle Andy'," Barbara said, with a grin. "Now, Uncle Andy, you being a Big Brain--the term being used in its most complimentary sense--and the way you talked, one of your eight doctorates is in medicine." "Of course." "Are you any good at obstetrics?" "In the present instance I am perfectly safe in saying----" "Wait a minute!" Deston snapped. "Bobby, you are _not_----" "I am too! That is, I don't suppose I _am_ yet, since we were married only last Tuesday, but if he's competent--and I'm _sure_ he is--I'm certainly _going_ to! If we get back to Earth I _want_ to, and if we don't, both Bun and I have _got_ to. Castaways' Code, you know. So how about it, Uncle Andy?" "I know what you two girls are," Adams said, quietly. "I know what you two men must of necessity be. Therefore I can say without reservation that none of you need feel any apprehension whatever." Deston was about to say something, but Barbara forestalled him. "Well, we can _think_ about it, anyway, and talk it over. But for right now, I think it's high time we all got some sleep. Don't you?" * * * * *