"You'll get into an argument with somebody and forget to come back," his mother said. "Sylvie, you go with him, and bring both of them back." "When'll we have our wedding, Sylvie?" he asked as they went off together. "Well, before Dad goes to Aditya with the _Genji_. That'll have to be in a month." "Two weeks? That ought to be plenty of time to get ready, and let people recover from this one." "Everybody's here now. Let's make it a double wedding tomorrow," she suggested. He hadn't been prepared for that. "Well, I hadn't expected.... Sure! Good idea!" he agreed. There was a crowd in Rodney Maxwell's little office--Fawzi and some others, and some Storisende people. One of the latter was vociferating: "Jake Vyckhoven's no good, and he never was any good!" "Well, you have to admit, if he hadn't ordered the banks and the Stock Exchange closed that time, we'd have had a horrible panic--" "Admit nothing of the kind! Jethro, you were there, you'll bear me out. About a dozen of us were at Executive Palace for hours, bullying him into that. Why, we almost had to twist one of his arms while he was signing the order with the other. And now he has the gall to run for re-election on the strength of his heroic actions at the time of the Travis Hoax!" "I know who we want for President!" another Storisende man exclaimed. "He's right here in this room!" "Yes!" Rodney Maxwell almost bellowed, before the other man could say anything else. "Here he is!" He grabbed Kurt Fawzi by the arm and yanked him to his feet. "Here's the man most responsible for finding Merlin; the man who first suggested sending my son Conn to Terra to school, the man who, more than anyone else, devoted his life to the search for Merlin, the man whose inextinguishable faith and indomitable courage kept that search alive through its darkest hours. Everybody, get a drink; a toast to our next President, Kurt Fawzi!" Conn was sure he heard his father add: "Ghu, what a narrow escape!" Then he and Sylvie began chanting, in unison, "_We want Fawzi! We want Fawzi!_" If you enjoyed this novel, you will also want to read: SPACE VIKING by H. BEAM PIPER After a galaxy-wide war had left the planetary federation in ruins, every surviving civilized world was on its own. And that was a perfect setup for the marauders from the far-out rim. Trask was one of those dreaded Space Vikings, a warrior spaceman with a crew and a ship that struck terror to a thousand worlds. But Trask had a special personal interest In scourging the stars--he wanted to draw upon himself the fire of a certain enemy--a renegade planet-wrecker with a yen for galactic empire building. Ace Book F-225 40 cent Available at this price (plus 5 cent handling fee) from Ace Books, Inc. (Dept. MM), 1120 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10036 Here's a quick checklist of recent releases of ACE SCIENCE-FICTION BOOKS 40 cent F-231 STAR GATE by Andre Norton F-236 THE TIME TRADERS by Andre Norton