I shrugged. "We've made enemies of the Martians by killing two of them. I doubt if they'll forgive us for that. They've shown too many human qualities--curiosity, fear, bravado, for example. They probably have the ability to be angry and to extract an eye for an eye. So we're fighting a whole planet. Whether there are five of us or three wouldn't make much difference. But Spartan has us prepared for a lift-off and I don't think he intends to wait for an attack to trim down our numbers." She looked thoughtful, then said, "Bill, are you suggesting we murder Dr. Spartan?" I hadn't suggested it. All I was thinking of was saving my life and hers. Self-protection. But that included killing in self-defense. Possibly I'd had murder in the back of my mind. But when she said it in so many words, I was revolted. "Not if we can avoid it," I said. "But there isn't enough water for five, you said. That means--" She stopped. "I'm willing to try it on rations," I said. And I was. "Spartan isn't. Spartan planned to get rid of us anyhow." Slowly she shook her head. "No, I don't believe even Spartan could be like that. I'll admit I did think it once. But he'd have too much to explain when he got home. Still, if he could arrange an accident--" "He's arranged two of them. Willy and Morrie. What's to stop him from getting rid of Axel and me? Perhaps you, if you were likely to be a witness against him." "We can't be a party to murder, Bill Drake," she said. She was right. I knew that even if I had carried the idea around in my head, I couldn't kill in cold blood. If Spartan tried to kill me and I had to stop him, it would be a different matter. But even though I knew he had no intention of letting me live, had already tried to kill me once, I couldn't deliberately plan his death. "But we can restrain him," I said. "Take him prisoner." "That would be mutiny," she said. "No. We have evidence that he murdered Morrie Grover," I said. "We'd be putting him under arrest." "But the mission!" "The rest of us could do what has to be done. The main thing is to prevent more killings. Arrest would make it unnecessary to kill Spartan." She sighed and said nothing. "Axel will help," I said. "Joel won't interfere, either way; there's even a possibility that he might join us once he's made to understand what's been going on." She sank down on a packing case we'd been using as a chair. "All right, Bill Drake. But please be careful," she said. That night Spartan called us by radio. He and Axel had run into a terrific storm just as they left Lacus Minor. Red dust had practically overwhelmed them, and winds up to 75 miles an hour had thrown the Mars-car into a marsh. However, there had been no serious damage and they'd return the following day. When Joel came in, and after we had eaten our evening meal, I told him bluntly what we'd found out about Spartan.