Her lips quivered and her head dropped. Brace didn't feel good about it. She was just a kid. He'd have felt much better if she was a man. What was a girl like her doing in Titan anyway? She had no business being in this hole. There was never anything but trouble on Titan. Brace sat down. "You said he was your brother." She nodded. "Well, what were you two doing here? You don't look like the people who usually land here, especially stay here for any length of time." She sighed and bit her lip. "My--my brother and I were members of a traveling theater. He got into a fight with the manager--my brother is--was--very temperamental and he insisted on being let off at the nearest port. The ship came here and--I decided to stay with my brother. It was only after the ship had gone that we discovered we only had enough money for one passage back to earth. So--I--" Brace got up suddenly. "Never mind," he said, bruskly. He didn't want to hear any more. He straightened. Well, that's the way life was. Some people got the breaks, some didn't. It wasn't his fault. At least, it would be a quick death. He'd see to that. "I'll have some food sent to you," Brace said, opening the door. She didn't look up, nor did she answer, and Brace hesitated a moment before stepping out of the cabin. It was just momentary, then he closed the door behind him and walked on down the companionway. There was some strange humor, he reflected, in the fact that a thin, almost skinny girl was the greatest danger he'd ever faced, his greatest threat. The S.P. might return at any time. There were still two hours almost and he didn't dare blast off early. If he could only get--He realized abruptly that the mate was standing in the companionway, staring at him. "Barrows!" Brace grunted. "Get the men together in the mess room." * * * * * Tableware lay in mute rows and the only sound was the humming ventilator. Brace sat down in a chair to wait until the men had all filed in. They were cast in the same mold, and forged to the same temper as their Captain, brittle, hard, unyielding. When they had assembled around the table, Barrows closed the door. "The ship's locked, Captain," Barrows said. "The girl can't escape." Brace nodded, got up, and stared at his men, one by one, seventeen of the fiercest toughest men ever baptised in the maw of space and all threatened by a stupid girl. Brace's hoarse voice resounded in the room as he told about the night before, chronologically, neither adding nor detracting. They listened without comment. "There's an out for some of you," Brace finished. "I can give you your papers and a note to Captains of ships which happen to be here now. They'll sign you on and the S.P. won't be able to find you guilty of anything. They won't even be able to prove you're my men. As for you, Barrows, you can sign on with Grant and he'll doctor it up so that it'll look like you signed on a couple of days ago."