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“Killing him would have brought down the biggest investigation the Earth Congress has launched since the crack-up of the Earth-Luna ship thirty years ago. Does he think we are fools?”

“You can’t blame him. He’s been brought up that way, and three months of training isn’t going to change him.”

St. Simon frowned. “Suppose he changes his mind? Suppose he tells Tarnhorst what he thinks?”

“He won’t. He’s told his lie, and now he’ll have to stick by it or lose his precious security. If he couldn’t trade that for freedom, he sure isn’t going to throw it away.” Alhamid grinned. “But can you imagine a guy thinking that anchor setting could be completely mechanized?”

St. Simon grinned back. “I guess I’m not a very good teacher after all. I told him and told him and told him for three solid months that the job required judgment, but it evidently didn’t sink in. He’s got the heart of a romantic and the soul of an Earthman–a very bad combination.”

“He has my sympathy,” Alhamid said with feeling. “Now, about you. Your blue ticket still has three months to run, but I can’t give you a class if you’re only going to run through the first half of the course with them, and I don’t have any more Earthmen for you to give special tutoring to. You have three choices: You can loaf with pay for three months; you can go back to space and get double pay for three months; or you can take a regular six-month class and get double pay for the last three months. Which’ll it be?”

St. Simon grinned widely. “I’m going to loaf until I get sick of it, then I’ll go back to space and collect double pay for what’s left of the three months. First off, I’m going to take a run over to Vesta. After that, who knows?”

“I thought so. Most of you guys would stay out there forever if you didn’t have to come back for supplies.”

St. Simon shook his head. “Nope. Not true. A man’s got to come back every so often and get his feet on the ground. If you stay out there too long, you get to talking to yourself.”

* * * * *

An hour later, the spaceboat Nancy Bell lifted from the surface of Pallas and shot toward Vesta.

“Jules, old cobblestone, we have just saved civilization.”

“Jawohl, Herr Hassenpfefferesser! Und now ve go to find das Maedchen, nicht war?“

“Herr Professor Hassenpfefferesser to you, my boy.”

And then, all alone in his spaceboat, Captain Jules St. Simon burst into song:

“Oh, I’m the cook and the captain, too,
And the men of the Nancy’s brig;
The bosun tight, and the midshipmite,
And the crew of the captain’s gig!”

And the Nancy Bell sped on toward Vesta and a rendevous with Eros.