r scooters broke from the side of the Patrol ship. Greg activated the
airlock. Five minutes later a man in Patrol uniform with captain's bars
stepped into the control cabin, a stunner on ready in his hand. Three
Patrolmen came in behind him.

The captain looked around the cabin, then saw Tawney, and took a deep
breath. "Well, thank the stars you're safe at any rate. Pete, Jimmy,
take the controls."

"Hold on," Greg said. "We don't need a pilot."

The Captain looked at him. "Sorry, but we're taking you in. There won't
be any trouble unless you make it. You three are under arrest, and I'm
authorized to make it stick if I have to. I suggest you just cooperate."

They stared at him. Then Johnny said, "What are the charges?"

"You ought to know," the Captain said. "We have a formal complaint from
the main offices of Jupiter Equilateral, charging you with piracy,
murder, kidnapping of a company official, and totally wrecking a company
orbit ship. I don't quite see how you managed it, but we're going to
find out in short order."

There was a stunned silence in the cabin, and then a sound came from the
rear of the cabin.

Merrill Tawney was laughing.

12. The Sinister Bonanza

They were taken to a small, drab internment room. A half hour passed and
still no word from the Major. From the moment the Patrol crew had
boarded them, everything had seemed like a bad dream. The shock of the
arrest, the realization that the Captain had been serious when he reeled
off the charges lodged against them ... they had been certain it was
some kind of ill-planned joke until they saw the delegation of Jupiter
Equilateral officials waiting at the port to greet Merrill Tawney like a
man returned from the dead. They had watched Tawney climb into the sleek
company car and drive off toward the gate, while the Captain had
escorted them without a word down to the internment rooms.

The door clicked, and the Captain looked in. "All right, come along
now," he said.

"Is the Major here?" Tom said.

"You'll see the Major soon enough." The Captain herded them into another
room, where a clerk efficiently fingerprinted them. Then they went down
a ramp to a jitney-platform, and boarded a U.N. official car. The trip
into the city was slow; rush-hour traffic from the port was heavy. When
they reached U.N. headquarters, there was another wait in an upper
level ante-room. The Captain stood stiffly with his hands behind his
back and ignored t