te their speed. As
the ship braked for the landing on Simonides he completed his
calculations, and was quite sure the distance between the two planets
was twelve and a quarter light years, plus or minus not over two
percent, and that Algon was somewhere near right ascension eighteen
hours, and declination plus fifteen degrees.

As he passed through the airlock and started down the plank, he was
surprised and a bit dismayed to see Panek and two of the other gunmen he
had seen in that back room, waiting for him, their faces impassive and
unreadable.

"A welcoming committee, eh?" he greeted them with a smile that tried to
cover his disappointment. "Hiya, Panek! Hi, fellows!"

But his heart was doing flip-flops. These men were not here just because
they were glad to see him, of that he was sure. He probed their minds
and even before Panek spoke, he knew.

"The boss sent us to bring you to see him first thing, the boss did,"
Panek's voice was gruff, yet somewhat friendly.

"That's mighty nice of him," Hanlon tried not to let his feelings show,
but to take this as a natural courtesy. But he had so much wanted to get
to the bank immediately. "I was coming to report, of course," he
commented. "Got a letter for him from Superintendent Philander. Besides,
I got a flock of credits coming. Boy, did I earn 'em! That's a stinking,
hot planet up there. It'll be good seeing the bright lights again,
besides living in a decent climate once more."

The two men grunted a mysterious laugh, but Panek merely indicated the
way to the aircar. Again Hanlon was blindfolded, but now he didn't
care--he knew the location of this crater field.

There was silence during most of the trip. Hanlon babbled away at first,
but when no one answered him he gradually slowed his words and finally
shut up entirely.

His mind probings told him he was in for a rough time, and he got the
feeling he was not supposed to be there at all, for some reason.

"Oh, oh!" he thought, almost in panic. "Something's wrong. Did I slip
somewhere? Have they got wind of what I've learned? But how ... how
could they?"

Instead of taking him to the back room of the Bacchus, Hanlon found when
the blindfold was finally removed that he was in a stone-walled room
that he sensed was a sort of cellar in some huge building. It was bare
of furniture except for two chairs and the glo-lights, one of which was
on a standard like a spotlight.

Before he had time to try to puzzle th