hout
getting into trouble."

He pushed the door aside and went into the building, pausing for an
instant between two monitor pillars. There was no warning buzz and he
continued on his way through a hallway.

He barely noticed his surroundings. Once, when he had first been
brought here, he had studied the stone walls, the tiny, grilled
windows, the barred doors, with fascinated horror. But the feeling had
dulled. They were just depressingly familiar surroundings now.

He stopped at a heavy metal grill and handed a slip through the bars.
A bored guard turned, dropped the paper into a slot, then glanced at a
viewplate. He nodded.

"All right, forty-two ninety. You're on time. Back to your cell." He
punched a button and a gate slid aside.

Stan glanced at the cell fronts as he walked. Men were going about
their affairs. A few glanced at him as he passed, then looked away.
Stan closed his eyes for an instant.

[Illustration]

That much hadn't changed. At school, he had never been one with any of
the cadet groups. He had been accepted at first, then coolly
tolerated, then shunted to the outer edges.

Oh, he'd had his friends, of course. There were those other oddballs,
like Winton and Morgan. But they'd gone. For one reason or another,
most of them had packed up and left long before he'd had his final
run-in with the academic board.

And there had been Major Michaels. For a while, the officer had been
warm--friendly. Stan could remember pleasant chats--peaceful hours
spent in the major's comfortable quarters. And he could remember
parties, with some pretty swell people around.

Then the older man had become a forbidding stranger. Stan had never
been able to think of a reason for that. Maybe it was because of the
decline in his academic work. Maybe he'd done something to offend.
Maybe--

He shook the thoughts away, walked to a cell door, and stood waiting
till the guard touched the release button.

* * * * *

As Stan tossed his books on his bunk, Jak Holme raised his head and
looked across the cell.

"More of them books?"

"Yeah." Stan nodded. "Still trying to find out about this planet."

"You trying to be some kinda big politician when you get out?" Holme
snorted.

"Tell you, be better you try mixing with the guys, 'stead of pushing
'em around with that fancy talk, making 'em jump now and then, see.
You get along with 'em, you'll see. They'll tell you all you need. Be
w