"The Space Patrol," said Anjers gravely, "waiting for us. We are traveling at the greatest rate of speed ever attained by a spacecraft, true, but the speed of light makes mockery of our efforts. And that is the rate at which a warning message must have winged its way before us. Is it not possible we are running directly into a trap? A Patrol fleet grimly awaiting our arrival?" Skipper Warren shook his head. "A couple of years ago, yes, undoubtedly. But not now." "No? Why not?" "Because," explained Warren gravely, "the Solar Space Patrol is not an interplanetary patrol any longer. Few earthmen realize that, but it's true. The purpose for which it was formed, that of policing and providing judicial protection to all the civilized planets, has been overthrown. The militaristic ambitions of each world have heightened so greatly in the last couple of years that now every other planet in the system looks with disfavor upon the SSP, which was an invention of the Earth government. "One by one, its garrisons have been withdrawn from Venus, Mars, Jupiter, the asteroids, until now the organization which used to proudly boast the maintenance of order throughout the whole system has become nothing more than an armed protective corps for Earth itself." * * * * * "Is that true?" gasped Nora Powell. "But why should the other planets refuse to cooperate?" "It's our own fault," confessed Warren glumly. "The Patrol was a good idea, but it wasn't organized properly. Its membership should have been drawn from the likeliest youths of each world. Instead, through selfishness or cunning or greed--I don't know why--Earth undertook the policing of the entire solar system with only the young men of her own world. "Then again, throughout many decades we have steadfastly refused to aid the other worlds in developing spacecraft. Earth, and Earth alone, knows the secret of the construction of hypatomic motors which make spaceflight possible. It is a secret we guard jealously. That is why there exists no Venusian fleet, no Martian fleet, Jovian fleet. Only an Earth fleet which--and perhaps with reason--the denizens of all the other planets fear as an aggressive force. "Earth, too, has the only merchant fleet. And while it is no doubt true that other planets profit somewhat by the interchange of commerce our merchantmen make possible, it is into Earth's coffers pours the wealth of the universe."