ght mean?"

"Yes sir, I do. That's why I wanted Lieutenant Peterson to tell you
about it."

"I believe, Friden, that before we do any more talking I'll see this
city for myself."

* * * * *

Captain Webber, Lieutenant Peterson and Mr. Friden walked from the room
down a long corridor and into a smaller room. Captain Webber put his eye
to a circular glass and tapped his foot.

He stepped back and rubbed his cheek again.

"Well, you were right. That _is_ a city--or else we've all gone crazy.
Do you think that we have?"

"I don't know, sir. It's not impossible."

"Lieutenant, go ask Mr. Milton if he can land us on an asteroid. Give
him all the details and be back in ten minutes." Captain Webber sighed.
"Whatever it is," he said, "it will be a relief. Although I never made a
special announcement, I suppose you knew that we were lost."

"Oh yes, sir."

"And that we ran almost entirely out of fuel several months ago, in fact
shortly after we left?"

"We knew that."

The men were silent.

"Sir, Mr. Milton says he thinks he can land us but he can't promise
exactly where."

"Tell Mr. Milton that's good enough."

Captain Webber waited for the young man to leave, then looked again into
the glass.

"What do you make of it, sir?"

"Not much, Friden, not much. It's a city and that's an asteroid; but how
the devil they got there is beyond me. I still haven't left the idea
that we're crazy, you know."

Mr. Friden looked.

"We're positioning to land. Strange--"

"What is it?"

"I can make things out a bit more clearly now, sir. Those are earth
houses."

Captain Webber looked. He blinked.

"Now, _that_," he said, "_is_ impossible. Look here, we've been floating
about in space for--how long is it?"

"Three months, sir."

"Exactly. For three months we've been bobbling aimlessly, millions of
miles from earth. No hope, no hope whatever. And now we're landing in a
city just like the one we first left, or almost like it. Friden, I ask
you, does that make any sense at all?"

"No, sir."

"And does it seem logical that there should be an asteroid where no
asteroid should be?"

"It does not."

They stared at the glass, by turns.

"Do you see that, Friden?"

"I'm afraid so, sir."

"A lake. A lake and a house by it and trees ... tell me, how many of us
are left?"

Mr. Friden held up his right hand and began unbending fingers.

"Yourself, sir, and myself; Lieutenant Pete