Captain Strong had never seen Commander Walters so angry. The cords stood out in his neck and his face was red with fury as he paced up and down the Solar Guard office in Venusport. "A spy," he roared. "A spy right in the heart of our organization!" He shook his head.
The door opened and two burly Solar Guardsmen entered, saluted, and turned to flank the doorway, hands on their paralo-ray pistols. The private secretary of E. Philips James shuffled in slowly, followed by two more guards. Walters stepped up to the thin, intense young man and glared at him. "If I had my way, I'd send you out to the deepest part of space and leave you there!"
The man bit his lip but said nothing.
"Where is your secret base?" demanded Walters.
"I don't know," replied the secretary nervously.
"Who told you to intercept this message from Mercury?" Walters tapped a paper on his desk. "Who gave you your orders?"
"I receive orders on an audioceiver in my home," answered the man, a slight quaver in his voice. "I have never seen my superior."
"And you followed the Nationalist movement blindly, doing whatever they told you, without question, is that it?"
"Yes."