"It may not be that easy, Tuck. The Captain doesn't know what to do. HQ is going to bust a gasket when they find out about you. After all, the Captain is the only one who has made any trips back since we got here, and the project is so secret that not more than 20 people on Earth have any inkling of it." I began to flip my lid. "Yogi," I said, "how much does this project cost?" "Plenty, Tuck, more than you'd imagine. The equipment the guys use for their surveys is pretty high-powered stuff. Why?" "Because it's coming out of my pocket, that's why. And me and a lot of my buddies who are paying the freight on these deals are getting sick of hearing that only two or three or twenty people in the whole USA knows about this or that secret project. Security is okay, but don't you think we ought to know something about what our money's going for?" Boy, am I a genius at putting my foot in it! The lighter gravity on Lunette must of gone to my head. Yogi gave me a real funny look, got up from the mess table, and walked off. * * * * * I started to sweat. What the heck made me blow off like that? Now they really would think I was a security risk, and maybe they'd decide not to let me go back at all, at least not until they had a court-martial or something. Naturally I have plenty of respect for military secrets; it's just that I think voters should have a little more information and a little more say-so about how our money is spent. It's a sore point with me. But what a stupid time I pick to sound off about it! A soldier comes along and tells me the CO wants to see me. Now I know this is it. But Yogi and the Captain both looked as friendly as ever. "Peters," the CO said, "I think you can be useful to us." Oh, oh, here it comes. They're going to try to talk me into staying up here. "I suppose you have figured out by now what the Lunette Project is all about," the Captain went on. "You remember stories in the papers a few years ago on the possibility of creating an artificial satellite to use as a base for guided missiles in case of war?" I nodded. "The stories were hushed up pretty fast, and the reason was that Lunette was discovered just about then. They stopped talking about it just as they stopped talking about atomic research after the Manhattan project started." "Listen, Captain, please," I said. "Beg pardon for interrupting, but please don't tell me anything a civilian isn't supposed to know, because--no offense--I don't want to get roped into the Army just because I know too much." "No offense to _you_, Peters--I'm not trying to get you into the Army." He grinned, and I felt a lot better. "Let me go on. Yogi tells me that he explained to you something about the Matter BARS. Did you understand it?" "Pretty well, sir. He should have been a teacher if he could make me see a glimmer of light in that stuff." The Captain laughed and Yogi got red.