He spoke swiftly. It is well that he did so, for it was scant seconds after he had finished that the inter-communicating system buzzed loudly. I flashed in the audio and stared into the panicky face of Lt. Dick Todd. "Sparks!" he yelled. "Is the skipper there? Tell him to come up here right away! There's a Venusian ship off our port bow. It just fired a shot across our bow and ordered us to heave to!" Biggs said apologetically, "If you'll permit me, sir?" and the skipper nodded mutely. "Todd," said Mr. Biggs, "heave to as ordered. And when they board us, send them to this room." Five minutes later, the commander of the _S. S. Cyclops_ bustled into the control-turret, side-arms ready and backed by a hard-bitten foray party, to find a strange bit of activity. Lancelot Biggs and I were playing a game of chess. Cap Hanson was playfully disconnecting the wires of my transmitting unit. Thaxton was sitting on top of the visiphone equipment, teasing my Ampie with a flashlight battery. "You're all," yelled the commander, "under arrest! Er--I hope." And to Thaxton, uncertainly, "Well, Thaxton?" The little man smiled at him cherubically. "Very well, Commander," he piped. "And you?" Cap Hanson, carefully coached by Biggs, stood up, bridling. "May I ask," he said stuffily, "the reason for this invasion? My dear sir, such an unwarranted entry--" The _Cyclops_ commander looked stunned. He dragged a moist hand across a moister forehead and said, "Thaxton, did you complete your investigations?" Thaxton looked up, bobbed his head. "Mm-hmm!" he said. "Woo--woo!" "And--and the result?" "She wouldn't." Thaxton shook his head regretfully. "When I got insistent, she slapped my face--" "You infernal idiot!" roared the Venusian commander. "I'm talking about the _cargo_! _Did_ you or did you _not_ find contraband aboard this ship? If you _did_--" They could have filled two stratosphere balloons with the breath that was held at that moment. But then the little man broke the spell. Broke? Shattered. Into ten thousand tiny pieces. For he said, "Contraband, Commander? Oh, mercy me, no! Whatever made you think there'd be contraband aboard _this_ ship?" And he slid off the visiphone unit, to announce: "Well, we'd better be going now, hadn't we? Thanks for a pleasant trip, Captain Hanson. I hope I'll see you again some time." * * * * * The Venusian commander's face was crimson, but he was a gentleman. To Hanson he said, "My apologies, Captain. I hope you'll understand that in times of war, such incidents as this are unavoidable. My government will make a formal apology to yours." Then he, and his men, and his ship, and Thaxton--the dopey little squirt--were gone. And we were free to continue our journey. With all mental strain forever relieved. Because now we had the _carte blanche_ of the Venusian government.... Afterward, it was a crestfallen skipper who held out his hand to Lancelot Biggs in open-hearted apology.