als--I might
even confess to a few of my own. But _you_ don't stop to figure out just
what your ideals are--exactly what you're fighting for.

"You come to a crisis like this one and you forget about the _big_ goal.
All you see is this one problem. And by giving them yes-or-no
answers--good or bad, brave or cowardly--to the problem of the
moment--you may miss a simple solution to the big one.

"You've got to keep a cool head and never forget for even a moment
exactly what it is you want to accomplish." His voice was gentle, and it
held no rebuke.

"All right," said Lee unhappily, "you win. You needn't bother to rub in
the salt. I was going to chase you through all the inquiry courts for
this. Instead, you got a lucky break, so I can't do a thing. You ought
to be tarred and feathered through every city of the Federation, but
because a destroyer happened to stumble in here at the right time you'll
end up a hero." Her voice caught in a sob.

"Oh, the destroyer," Marc replied. "Ah, yes, that _was_ lucky, wasn't
it? The only hitch is--there wasn't any destroyer. Probably not one
within a million miles!" He laughed as Lee turned surprise-widened eyes
toward him.

"What they thought was a destroyer was the radar system on the side of
the rock, bouncing a signal off the moon. I gave the radar boys the word
just before Mantor dropped in on us. The crew did a damned good job of
juggling the power and frequency and all." He grinned. "Remind me to buy
them a beer sometime."

He laughed then at the girl's expression as it changed from bitter
disillusion to something akin to awe, close to hero-worship.

"And this, by the way," Polder said, "is as good a time as any to tell
you that I'd like to see you look like a woman, for a change. How about
changing into a dress before we go into town. You know, I've never seen
you out of that uniform?"

She hesitated, unsure of herself now. "That will take a little time,"
she said doubtfully.

He put hands on her slim shoulders, gave her a gentle shove toward her
quarters. "We've got time," he told her. "Lots of it. But I've been
waiting quite a while."

Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from _Fantastic Universe_ March 1954.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and
typographical errors have been corrected without note.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of T