of my meaning. Any damned
fool would have known that a dead man doesn't get up out of his grave
and come to life again. Except you, Hargraves. You always were a sucker
for fairy stories."

Jed Hargraves winced with every word that was spoken. They kept on
coming.

"You ought to have known that thing wasn't Hal Sarkoff. Any man in his
right senses would have known it instantly. Any man fit to command would
have taken measures to meet the situation, either by destroying that
thing, or locking it up. But you were running things, Hargraves. You
were in charge. And you had to sit back and think before you would act.
You had to make sure you were right, before you went ahead. Your
negligence, Hargraves, cost us our only chance of ever returning home."

Nielson's voice was harsh with anger. And--Hargraves recognized the
bitter truth--every word Nielson uttered was correct. Whatever the thing
was that had come to the ship, he should have recognized it as a source
of danger. He had so recognized it. But he had not acted.

"I--"

"Shut up!" Nielson snapped. "According to our agreement, any time you
are shown to be unfit to command, you may be removed by a vote of the
majority. There is no question but that you have shown yourself unfit to
be in charge of this expedition."

* * * * *

No time was wasted in reaching a decision. To Nielson's question as to
whether Hargraves should be removed from command, there was a chorus of
"Ayes."

"No," said one voice. It was Usher, the archeologist.

"State your objection," Nielson rasped.

"The old one about changing horses in mid-stream," the archeologist
answered. "Also the old one about not jumping to conclusions before all
the evidence is in."

"What evidence isn't in?"

"We don't know why Ron Val joined Sarkoff," the archeologist answered.

"What difference does that make? We don't even know that Ron Val was
still himself. The thing that looked like Ron Val might have been
another monstrosity like Sarkoff."

"So it might," the archeologist shrugged. "Anyhow my vote is not
important. I'm just putting it in for the sake of the record, if there
ever is a record. I would also like to mention that if ever we needed
discipline and unity, now is the time."

"We will have discipline, I promise you," Nielson said. "Hargraves, you
are removed from command, understand?"

"Yes," said Hargraves steadily.

Only one ballot was needed to put Nielson