as though we won't see each other for a while, Pete."

"What ship are you getting?"

"The _Lord Nelson_."

It was Wayne's turn to laugh. "It looks as though we _will_ be seeing
each other. That's my ship too. We can keep our date in the briefing
room."

Her face brightened. "Good! I'll see you there, then," she said. "I've
got to get my gear packed."

"Okay," Wayne said. "Let's be on time, you know how General Scarborough
is."

She smiled. "Don't worry, Peter. I'll be there. So long for now."

"Bye, Sherri." He cut the connection, watched the girl's face melt away
into a rainbow-colored diamond of light, and turned away. There were a
lot of things to do before he would be ready to leave Earth for an
interstellar tour of duty.

He wondered briefly as he started to pack just what was going on. There
was usually much more notice on any big jump of this order. Something
special was up, he thought, as he dragged his duffle-bag out of the
closet.

* * * * *

He was at the briefing room at 2158 on the nose. The Interstellar
Exploration Service didn't much go for tardiness, but they didn't pay
extra if you got there a half-hour early. Captain Peter Wayne made it a
point of being at any appointment two minutes early--no more, no less.

The room was starting to fill up, with men and women Wayne knew well,
had worked with on other expeditions, had lived with since he'd joined
the IES. They looked just as puzzled as he probably did, he saw; they
knew they were being called in on something big, and in the IES big
meant _big_.

At precisely 2200, Lieutenant General Scarborough emerged from the inner
office, strode briskly up the aisle of the briefing room, and took his
customary stance on the platform in front. His face looked stern, and he
held his hands clasped behind his back. His royal blue uniform was neat
and trim. Over his head, the second hand of the big clock whirled
endlessly. In the silence of the briefing room, it seemed to be ticking
much too loudly.

The general nodded curtly and said, "Some of you are probably wondering
why the order to report here wasn't more specific. There are two reasons
for that. In the first place, we have reason to believe that we have
found a substantial deposit of double-nucleus beryllium."

There was a murmur of sound in the briefing room. Wayne felt his heart
starting to pound; D-N beryllium _was_ big. So big that a whole fleet of
IES ships d