s no good reason for slackening speed."

Captain Evans glared back at the plump little man, then his eyes
wavered, and his fingers fiddled uncertainly with the papers on his
desk. His chief officers were watching him intently. At last he
straightened his shoulders and spoke sternly.

"Mr. Jasperson. Surely it will not be necessary to remind you that I am
the Captain of this ship. I am in sole command. Is that correct?"

"Yes, but--"

"Would you seriously advise me to go contrary to my own knowledge, my
own instinct? To run this ship into an area of danger, to risk the lives
of the passengers, all for a piece of ribbon? Would you want to take the
responsibility of giving me such an order, even if I should agree?"

As Jasperson looked around at the watchful faces of the Engineer, the
Pilot, and the Navigator, some of the belligerence left his voice.

"Certainly not, Josiah! And anyway, it's not your knowledge I'm
quarreling with. If you run the ship according to the facts, you'll do
all right. It's when you let your judgment be influenced by your
imagination that I object. But by all means, do as you think best. When
the Star Line loses confidence in its Captains, they replace them. I'll
look in again, if I may, later in the day."

When the door had closed behind him, Pilot Thayer shook his head
wonderingly. "You'd think he ruled the universe!"

"He's a man of very limited imagination," said the Captain. "But never
forget, he wields a great deal of power. Now, are your orders clear?
Smith, you'll continue your charting."

"I'm doing my best, Captain, but what am I charting? Sometimes I wonder
if maybe your friend Jasperson isn't right. If the Ripples are
imaginary, maybe I'm getting gray hairs trying to make a map of
something that isn't there!"

"Chart it anyway! We can't take chances. Wyman, I'm not a bit satisfied
with the way Pile Ten is behaving. It should have cooled to normal
before now. Watch it. If we have to dump it, we want to act before it
gets too hot. Anything else?"

"One other thing, sir," said Engineer Wyman, pointing to the diagram of
the ship which hung on the wall. "Pile Ten is located just below
Lifeboat C, and the radiation index of Boat C is getting a little high."

"That's bad. Well, keep shoving in the dampers, and keep me posted."

After they had gone, he sat for a while at his desk, studying the data
on the papers before him. He paced the room for a few minutes, then
paused to pic