The door opened and a man came in. "I'm Belden," said the man. "Jim Belden. They told me you were here." "I'm glad to know you, Belden." "What's the game?" asked Belden. "No game," said West. "You got those two downstairs sold on you," Belden said. "They think you're another great mind that has discovered the outside." "So they do," said West. "I'm very glad to know it." "They pointed out Annabelle to me," said Belden. "Said that was proof you were one of us. But I recognized Annabelle. They didn't, but I did. She's the one that Darling took along. You got her from Darling." * * * * * West stayed silent. There was no use in playing innocent with Belden, for Belden had guessed too close to the truth. Belden lowered his voice. "You have the same hunch as I have. You figure Darling's hormone is worth more than all this mummery going on downstairs. And you're here to find it. I told Nevin that Darling's hormone was the thing for us to find instead of messing around outside, but he didn't think so. After we took Darling to the moon, Nevin smashed the ship's controls. He was afraid I might get away, you see. He didn't trust me and he couldn't afford to let me get away." "I'll trade with you," West told him quietly. "We'll go to the moon in your ship and see Darling," said Belden. "We'll beat it out of him." West grinned wryly. "Darling's dead," he said. "Did you search the hut?" asked Belden. "Of course not. Why should I have searched it?" "It's there, then," said Belden, grimly. "Hidden in the hut somewhere. I've turned this place upside down and I'm sure it isn't here. Neither the formula nor the hormones themselves. Not unless Darling was trickier than I thought he was." "You know what this hormone is," said West smoothly, trying to make it sound as if he himself might know it. "No," said Belden shortly. "Darling didn't trust us. He was angry at what Nevin was trying to do. And once he made a crack that the man who had it could rule the Solar System. Darling wasn't kidding, West. He knew more about hormones than all the rest of us put together." "Seems to me," West said drily, "that you would have wanted to keep a man like that here. You certainly could have used him." "Nevin again," Belden told him. "Darling wouldn't go along with the program that Nevin planned. Even threatened to expose him if he ever had the chance. Nevin wanted to kill him, but Cartwright thought up a joke ... he's jovial, Cartwright is." "I've noticed that," said West. "Cartwright thought up the exile business," Belden said. "Offered Darling any one thing he wished to take along. One thing, you understand. Just one thing. That's where the joke came in. Cartwright expected Darling to go through agonies trying to make up his mind. But there wasn't a moment's hesitation. Darling took the whisky." "He drank himself to death," said West. "Darling wasn't a drinking man," Belden told him, sharply.