"Yeah," argued Mason, "but you don't know those guys at Space Academy. All this honor stuff! It's not like a regular investigation. They don't stop digging until they dig up real facts! They'll find out we stowed away and ..."
Loring calmly added cream and sugar to his coffee. "They can't prove a thing. Jardine and Bangs are dead, and the ship's nothing but a pile of junk."
"They'll find out, I tell you, and now we've got murder on our hands!"
A door behind Mason suddenly opened and Stefens appeared.
"Shut up, you fool!" Loring hissed. He turned blandly to face Stefens. "Well, Captain, glad you came. I wanted to talk to you about getting us transportation back to Venusport."
"You'll have to wait for the jet liner from Earth," said Stefens. "See me in about two hours. Right now, I've got to make arrangements for the investigation of the crash."
"Sure, sir," said Loring. "Ah—say, Captain, what do you expect the investigation to turn up?"
"The true facts," replied Stefens. "Whether the crash was due to the negligence of Cadet Manning or something that happened on the ship."
"Then you really think the cadet may be responsible?" asked Loring softly.
"He admits to negligence, and the Annie Jones is a lot of evidence," said Stefens with a shrug, and walked out.