"Why, simply because--" began Biggs. But he didn't finish his explanation. For there came a savage interruption from the doorway. And in an angry, spiteful voice: "Continue, Mr. Biggs!" snarled Major Gilchrist. "_Do_ continue, please! I am most eager to learn why you performed this abominable act of sabotage!" * * * * * I said, "Oh-oh!" and looked for a hole I could crawl into and drag in after me. Mr. Biggs' grin faded. "H-hello, Major!" he faltered weakly. "_Mister_ Biggs!" raged the efficiency expert. "May I ask _why_ you wound a dozen coils of uninsulated wire about the _Saturn's_ hull and connected the electrical helix so formed to the power generators? Don't deny it, sir! I've been outside and seen your handiwork!" Biggs said faintly, "Why, I--I--er--" "You needn't lie to me, Mr. Biggs! I understand too well. You deliberately established a hysteresis field around this ship in order to create a rise in temperature--was that it? You wished to make us believe the Sun's rays responsible for the heat--isn't that so?" It's a long worm that has no turning. Biggs finally asserted himself. He raised his quiet but determined eyes to those of the Corporation official. "Yes, sir!" he said. "That is exactly what I did." "And why, sir?" demanded Gilchrist venomously. "Because, sir, a close study of the course-chart has convinced me that we are in grave peril if we continue on our present trajectory." "What! You question my astrogation, Lieutenant?" "Excuse me, sir, but--I do!" Major Gilchrist's gimlet beak quivered like a saucer of gelatin; his sallow cheeks flooded with color. "Preposterous, young man! The _Saturn_ will skirt Sol at a distance of twenty million miles!" "The correct estimate, sir," disagreed Biggs gently, "is _ten_. I fear you neglected to take into consideration the space-warp created by Sol's tremendous mass. I have prepared alternative course instructions, sir. With your permiss--" "Silence, Lieutenant!" Gilchrist was wild with fury now. He had no ears for logic. He wouldn't have listened to a first-run performance of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, with sound effects by the original cast. "I've heard enough! You are guilty of having deliberately conspired to disturb, alarm and distress your shipmates, of having maliciously essayed an act of sabotage against your ship, and of flagrantly disobeying the commands of a senior officer. "Your rocket, sir! You will go below instantly, and confine yourself to quarters under arrest!" Lancelot Biggs said nothing. His larynx leaped, but without a word he stripped from his breast pocket that prized golden symbol for which all true spacemen would die, and with steady fingers surrendered it to Gilchrist. Diane stifled an impetuous little cry. Cap Hanson, his beefy face a wreath of anxiety, said, "But, Major--"