dy deliberately
put it into those tanks."

"Why?" Pietro asked. We'd filled him in with the rough details, but it
still made no sense to him.

"Suppose you tell me, Dr. Pietro," Muller suggested. "Chromazone is a
poison most people never heard of. One of the new _scientific_
nuisances."

Pietro straightened, and his goatee bristled. "If you're hinting . . ."

"I am _not_ hinting, Dr. Pietro. I'm telling you that I'm confining
your group to their quarters until we can clean up this mess, distil
the water that's contaminated, and replant. After that, if an
investigation shows nothing, I _may_ take your personal bond for the
conduct of your people. Right now I'm protecting my ship."

"But captain--" Jenny began.

Muller managed a smile at her. "Oh, not you, of course, Jenny. I'll
need you here. With Hendrix gone, you're the closest thing we have to
a Farmer now."

* * * * *

"Captain Muller," Pietro said sharply. "Captain, in the words of the
historical novelists--drop dead! Dr. Sanderson, I forbid you to leave
your quarters so long as anyone else is confined to his. I have ample
authority for that."

"Under emergency powers--" Muller spluttered over it, and Pietro
jumped in again before he could finish.

"Precisely, Captain. Under emergency situations, when passengers
aboard a commercial vessel find indications of total irresponsibility
or incipient insanity on the part of a ship's officer, they are
considered correct in assuming command for the time needed to protect
their lives. We were poisoned by food prepared in your kitchen, and
were nearly killed by radioactivity through a leak in the
engine-room--and no investigation was made. We are now confronted with
another situation aimed against our welfare--as the others were wholly
aimed at us--and you choose to conduct an investigation against our
group only. My only conclusion is that you wish to confine us to
quarters so we cannot find your motives for this last outrage. Paul,
will you kindly relieve the captain of his position?"

They were both half right, and mostly wrong. Until it was proved that
our group was guilty, Muller couldn't issue an order that was
obviously discriminatory and against our personal safety in case there
was an attack directed on us. He'd be mustered out of space and into
the Lunar Cells for that. But on the other hand, the "safety for
passengers" clause Pietro was citing applied only in the case of