Snow eyed me soberly, and her face hovered between grim determination and fathomless concern. "My brother Ted is one of the missing Space Scouts." 6 "Don't pretend," Snow said. "I know. The last two letters from Ted convinced me something was wrong. He never wrote those letters." I thought of Baxter's agents sweltering to turn out perfect facsimiles of children's letters, all for nothing. I sighed, and determined to make one last effort to keep the secret a secret. "You're imagining things. Sometimes, when a person is in an alien environment--which you must admit a strange planet is--their outlook changes a bit." She was staring at me, her eyes disconcertingly steady, just waiting for me to complete my lie, hardly listening to me. I gave it up and stopped. Snow, seeing I was through, unclasped her handbag and handed me a letter. I read it through. When I was finished, I looked at her with what I hoped was a noncommittal expression. "See what I mean?" said Snow. "Three _l_'s in _really_, and terrible spellings of _ancient_ and _Martian_. But words like ruins and civilization come through perfectly. It's an obvious attempt on the part of someone to deceive me. I just know something's wrong. That's why I drained my savings account and took this flight. I've got to find out what's happened." "You could have gone to the police." I suggested lamely. "I did." Snow's voice was cold and flat. "They laughed at me, said I was imagining things. I don't really blame them; all I have to go on is a hunch. That, plus the fact that Ted didn't say anything in our special code." I closed my eyes and groaned. She would have a special code with her brother! "Sure he didn't simply overlook it?" I tried. Snow's face was solemnly earnest. "In one letter, by the longest stretch of the imagination, possibly. But not two in a row." She leaned forward, her eyes housing desperation. "So when I learned that you, an Amnesty-bearer, were aboard, I just knew it had to be connected with whatever happened to Ted. There is something wrong, isn't there!" I hesitated, wondering what to do. This thing was a tightly kept secret, one which I'd sworn to keep. On the other hand, Snow had the most devastating blue eyes. I shifted in my position and felt cold metal bump lightly against my chest beneath my blouse. I'd forgotten about the Amnesty. Hell! I was the most influential, powerful person in the universe, wasn't I? If I wanted to plaster the secret across the face of the moon, no one had the authority to say no. Not even Baxter, however purple he might turn at the idea, could tell me not to do anything! And hadn't I been picked by the Brain? Didn't that mean that my instincts in this thing would be the correct ones? I took one more look into her deep blue eyes and decided that even if it was the most disastrous thing to do, I was going to tell her the truth. "It depends on what you mean by _wrong_," I said. Snow's brow crinkled. "Then the boys have vanished?"