It was too damned much, if you ask me. Later, when Axel and I were alone, I voiced my concern and suspicions. "It was no accident," said Axel bluntly. "Right," I said. No one had been in the main cabin at the time, about an hour before, when the water escaped. Gail had been asleep in her compartment. I'd been in the machinery room checking the air and water-cycling equipment. Axel had been in the control room, and Joel had been in the galley preparing food for the rest of us. "Maybe he thinks we're stupid," I added. "Anybody could figure out he did it." "On the log it will look just as Spartan says," Axel told us. "You and I may never live to contradict it. For that matter, neither may Joel." "Murder?" Axel nodded his head. "I think he has been planning for a long time to return alone." "But surely--surely not without Gail?" "If you were Spartan and thought as he did, what would you do? Gail is the one witness who could endanger him by contradicting his story." "You think even Gail is in danger?" Axel shrugged again. "As we mentioned once before, Dr. Spartan is not a man who likes to share glory," he said. "Besides there are two murders which would need some explaining." It seemed incredible, and yet there was a logical order of events that made Axel's theory plausible. First, Spartan wanted Gail. He had arranged an accident for Willy Zinder and this accident became murder. Second, there had been the accidental damaging of the water-cycling equipment, an incident which had served Dr. Spartan's scheme to cut down the crew--assuming of course that Spartan never intended any of us to return, with the possible exception of Gail. This had resulted in the second murder. Thirdly, he had planned to eliminate me but, for good reason, had changed his mind: I would be needed when the base was set up on Mars. Once that was accomplished I could be disposed of. Or, possibly, Spartan feared hostile creatures on Mars and could not afford to reduce the size of his crew if fighting could be expected. Now he had produced a water shortage. "Supposing you're right, Axel," I said after these thoughts ran through my mind. "What can we do about it?" "Nothing--now." "Later?" "If we are to live, something must be done," said Axel. "One thing we must decide, Bill, is just how far we are willing to go." "What do you mean by that?" I asked. "If it comes to defending my life, I'll go all out--as far as necessary." "It isn't that simple," said Axel. "As Spartan said, without exaggeration, there is water enough for only two--three at the most. That means two of us, at least, must die--unless we find water on Mars. Suppose we were to make Spartan a prisoner? What then?" I realized now what the real problem was. Even as a prisoner, we would not have the right to execute Spartan just because there was insufficient water. And how would we choose the other person to be sacrificed? "It's a terrible problem, Axel," I said. "Must we decide it now?"