* * * * *

The actual cutting instrument of the surgiscope was an ion stream. By
operating a tool in the three-dimensional screen, corresponding
movements were made by the ion stream on the object under the
microscope. The principle was the same as that used in operation of
remote control "hands" in atomic laboratories to handle hot material,
and with the surgiscope very delicate operations could be performed at
the cellular level.

Dr. Mansard and his wife had disappeared into the turbulent atmosphere
of Jupiter just after his invention of the surgiscope, and it had been
developed by Dom Blessing. Its success had built Spaceway Instruments,
Incorporated, which Blessing headed.

Through all these years since Dr. Mansard's disappearance, Blessing had
been searching the Jovian moons for a second, hidden laboratory of Dr.
Mansard. When it was found at last, he sent Trella, his most trusted
secretary, to Ganymede to bring back to him the notebooks found there.

Blessing would, of course, be happy to learn that a son of Dr. Mansard
lived, and would see that he received his rightful share of the
inheritance. Because of this, Trella was tempted to tell Quest the good
news herself; but she decided against it. It was Blessing's privilege to
do this his own way, and he might not appreciate her meddling.

* * * * *

At midtrip, Trella made a rueful confession to Jakdane.

"It seems I was taking unnecessary precautions when I asked you to be a
chaperon," she said. "I kept waiting for Quest to do something, and when
he didn't I told him I loved him."

"What did he say?"

"It's very peculiar," she said unhappily. "He said he _can't_ love me.
He said he wants to love me and he feels that he should, but there's
something in him that refuses to permit it."

She expected Jakdane to salve her wounded feelings with a sympathetic
pleasantry, but he did not. Instead, he just looked at her very
thoughtfully and said no more about the matter.

He explained his attitude after Asrange ran amuck.

Asrange was the third passenger. He was a lean, saturnine individual who
said little and kept to himself as much as possible. He was distantly
polite in his relations with both crew and other passengers, and never
showed the slightest spark of emotion ... until the day Quest squirted
coffee on him.

It was one of those accidents that can occur easily in spac