ghed and dropped onto a little seat.

"I can't prove my motives. You'll just have to believe me. But it wasn't
hard to do what I've done. That shuttle pilot was found in a routine
check, stowed away on the life raft. I was with Captain Everts when he
was found, so I discovered how to get into the raft. And I heard his
whole confession. He wasn't the real pilot. He'd come from the villages
to save you. The whole scheme was his. I just used it, hoping I could
reach you."

As always her story had a convincing element she shouldn't have known.
The pilot's farewell, addressing him as Dr. Feldman, had been too low
for her to hear, but it was something that fitted her story. It was
probably a deliberate clue to give him hope, to assure him the villages
were still trying. It shook his confidence.

"And your motive--your real motive?" he insisted.

She swore at him, then began ripping off the spacesuit. She turned her
back, pulling a thin blouse down from her neck. He stared, then reached
out to touch the lump there.

"So you've had Selznik's migraine and know you're carrying plague. And
you've decided your precious Lobby won't save you?"

She dropped her eyes, then raised them to meet his defiantly. "I'm not
just scared and selfish. Dad caught it, too, and it must be close to the
time for him. He switched to Mars-normal when he was a liaison agent and
never changed back. Dan, are we all going to have to die? Can't you save
him?"

Feldman was out of his suit and at the control panel. There was a manual
lever, which Chris must have used before. It might work out here where
there was room to maneuver and nothing to hit. But trying to make a
landing was going to be different.

"Dan?" she repeated.

He shrugged. "I don't know. They've started research too late and
they'll be under so much pressure that the real brains won't have a
chance. The topsecret stuff looks bad for research. Maybe there's a
cure. It works in culture bottles, but it may fail in person. When I'm
convinced I'm safe with you, I may tell you about it."

"Oh." Her voice was low. Then she sighed. "I suppose I can understand
why you hate me, Dan."

"I don't hate you. I'm too mixed up. Tomorrow maybe, but not now. Shut
up and let me see if I can figure out how to land this thing."

He found that the fuel tanks were nearly full, but that still didn't
leave much margin. Mars must have been notified by Everts and be ready
to pick the raft up. He had to rea