e information they needed," stormed
Nuwell, "and yet they didn't get a single one of the key men! Most of
the rebels slipped out easily, right under their noses!"

Maya watched him detachedly. This was the man she had promised to marry,
and, as she had once or twice before, she was undergoing pangs of doubt.
After all, she had known Nuwell Eli only during the few months she had
been on Mars.

She had fallen in love with him for his charm, his intelligence, his
good-humored gentleness, but she did not like this display of temper. It
was not a controlled anger, but had something of the irrational in it.

"Childress was captured," she reminded him.

"Childress! A figurehead! He says he didn't know about the rebel
activities going on in the college, and he's so stupid I may not be able
to make a case against him."

Maya recognized that this element, the success of his prosecution, was a
very important factor to Nuwell.

"Are the twelve I identified the only ones captured?" asked Maya.

"Yes. Twelve captured, seven killed, and every one of them small fry.
The leaders undoubtedly got away in that copter. We blockaded the
airlocks fast, so most of the others are probably still in the city, but
we don't have any idea where to look for them."

"I may be able to help in that, when I get back from my swing around the
other cities," said Maya.

"I don't want you to go on that jaunt, Maya!" exclaimed Nuwell, swinging
around to face her with fierce emphasis. "You said when you had found
the headquarters, you'd resign the service and marry me. Now you want to
go all over Mars looking for rebels!"

"Nuwell, I can identify almost all of those who were at the barber
college," Maya remonstrated. "They've picked up some men at the airlocks
and others on the roads at several cities, and even Martian law won't
permit you to uproot those people and send them to Mars City just on
suspicion. They can't be sent here for me to identify: I'll have to go
there."

"We can work out some charges to get them extradited to Mars City,"
snapped Nuwell angrily. "I don't want you to go, Maya. I want you to
stay here and marry me, immediately."

"Aren't you being a little dictatorial, Nuwell?" she suggested coolly.

The warning implied in her remoteness seemed to trigger a polarized
reaction in Nuwell. The furious dark eyes melted suddenly, the stubborn
anger of the face altered on the instant to a sentimental, wistful smile
of appeal.

"Do