obably still in it."

The officers moved quickly and efficiently to put his orders into
execution. The plan was to put the ship in the same position she had
occupied when the bombs struck, then use the small boats to plant
explosive charges in the water around the battle wagon, charges which
could be electrically exploded from the ship. Captain Higgins moved to
where Craig was standing. He took off his cap and wiped perspiration
from his forehead.

"What do you make of this?" he asked.

Craig shrugged. "I pass," he said.

"But--one minute we were part of a task force and Jap bombers were
having a go at us. The next minute--" Higgins looked helpless. "Damn it,
Craig," he exploded, "things like that can't happen!"

"They aren't supposed to happen," the big man grimly answered. "We just
saw one of them happen."

"But--" Higgins protested, "surely we would have known about these
space-time faults, if they existed. Other ships would have fallen into
them."

"Maybe other ships have fallen into them," Craig suggested. "In the last
war the Cyclops vanished without a trace. There have been other ships,
dozens of them, that have disappeared. And, for that matter, how is the
commander of your task force going to handle the disappearance of the
Idaho?"

"I don't know," Higgins muttered.

"He is going to have to report the loss of the battleship. What will he
say?"

"What can he say?"

"He'll search the area, for survivors and wreckage. When he finds
neither the only conclusion he can reach will be that the Idaho was
instantaneously sunk with the loss of all hands. Remember we were under
attack at the time. Remember that intense blue light that flared around
the horizon? To the men in the other ships that light may have looked
like an explosion of the magazines of the Idaho. The admiral commanding
your task force may report that a bomb seemingly passed down the smoke
stack of the Idaho and the resulting explosion touched off the powder
magazine."

* * * * *

Craig paused and in growing perplexity watched what Higgins was doing.
The captain was vigorously kicking the steel wall of the bridge. He was
pounding his right foot against it as if he was trying to kick it down.
There was a look of pain on his face. Craig watched for a second, then
grinned.

"Does it hurt?" he said.

"Yes!"

"Then it must be real," the big man suggested.

Higgins left off kicking the wall. Craig knew _wh