He paused and I said nothing. We both knew who'd tried to kill me and who probably was responsible for Morrie's death. That piece of paper didn't get in Morrie's helmet by accident. The entire paper supply was in Spartan's chartroom. "Why?" Axel asked slowly, a trace of accent creeping into his voice. It sounded like _vy_. He stared at me in utter perplexity. "Is Dr. Spartan crazy, too?" I remembered something that had happened--ages ago, it seemed, although it had been less than two hours before. "I was in Spartan's cabin during the time we went through the meteor cloud, Axel. I found something there." "Yes?" "Yes. A piece of paper--with our names on it. Morrie's was at the top of the list. Then mine. Warner Joel's name had been crossed out and written in again after yours. At the bottom there was Gail's name with a question mark after it." "A roster of the crew?" "Perhaps. But the question mark puzzled me. Now I believe he had listed us in the order of execution--in the order of expendability, so to speak." "It is a ridiculous idea," said Axel. "He killed Morrie and tried to kill me," I said. "We were Numbers One and Two on the list." Axel blinked his eyes. Then he looked at Morrie swaying upright, held in place by his magnetic boots. "First we must take the dead man into the ship," he said. "Later we talk about it, Bill. Yust you and I." We dragged Morrie into the main cabin. Gail was still in the machinery room, and we called Spartan on the intercom. When he came through the door and saw Morrie stretched out on his sleeping bag, he glanced at him as he might have at a soiled spot on the rug. "What happened?" he asked. I told him just what I'd found, purposely omitting my narrow escape from death. I figured that if he wasn't told about this he might give himself away. But he had shown no surprise at my being alive and he didn't ask how I'd gotten Morrie inside. Spartan dropped to his knee beside the body. He picked up Morrie's helmet and probed the valve with his fingers as Axel had done. "Stuck valve," he announced. "Inefficiency on the part of the manufacturer. I'll make a full report of this when I get back to the earth." I noted he said "when _I_ get back." I sensed he didn't expect much company on the return trip. Today's events had proved it. "What do we do now, sir?" Axel asked respectfully. "Give him a space burial, of course," said Spartan. He turned to me. "Within the next few days, you can make an oral report on the incident and I'll transcribe it on the tape recorder. We'll need it for the officials when we get back to earth." He paused and looked down at Morrie. "Our young friend has discovered a second great reality in space, I fear. The reality of death." He turned on his heel and went back to his ivory tower. I reached down and picked up Morrie's helmet. I felt inside the valve. The piece of paper which Axel had replaced was gone now. Dr. Spartan had removed the evidence of murder.