as not to be found in any Directory of
the Hub. At the moment, two young men were seated inside. Their sole job
was to maintain liaison with a man whose very existence was doubted by
most of the human inhabitants of the Galaxy but whose importance could
not be measured by mere human standards in those early days when the
Galactic League was becoming the Galactic Federation.

The name of the man with whom they maintained contact was Johnny Mayhem.

"Did you read it?" the blond man asked.

"I read it."

"If it got down here, that means they can't handle it anywhere else."

"Of course they can't. What the hell could normal slobs like them or
like us do about it?"

"Nothing, I guess. But wait a minute! You don't mean you're going to
send Mayhem, without asking him, without telling--"

"We can't ask him now, can we?"

"Johnny Mayhem's _elan_ is at the moment speeding from Canopus to Deneb,
where on the fourth planet of the Denebian system a dead body is waiting
for him in cold storage. The turnover from League to Federation status
of the Denebian system is causing trouble in Deneb City, so Mayhem--"

"Deneb City will probably survive without Mayhem. Well, won't it?"

"I guess so, but--"

"I know. The deal is we're supposed to tell Mayhem where he's going and
what he can expect. The deal also is, every inhabited world has a body
waiting for his _elan_ in cold storage. But don't you think if we could
talk to Mayhem now--"

"It isn't possible. He's in transit."

"Don't you think if we could talk to him now he would agree to board the
_Glory of the Galaxy_?"

"How should I know? I'm not Johnny Mayhem."

"If he doesn't board her, it's certain death for all of them."

"And if he does board her, what the hell can he do about it? Besides,
there isn't any dead body awaiting his _elan_ on that ship or any ship.
He wouldn't make a very efficacious ghost."

"But there are live people. Scores of them. Mayhem's _elan_ is quite
capable of possessing a living host."

"Sure. Theoretically it is. But damn it all, what would the results be?
We've never tried it. It's liable to damage Mayhem. As for the host--"

"The host might die. I know it. But he'll die anyway. The whole shipload
of them is heading on collision course for the sun."

"Does the SOS say why?"

"No. Maybe Mayhem can find out and do something about it."

* * * * *

"Yeah, maybe. That's a hell of a way to risk the life of