The boys all nodded and Logan continued in a hushed voice.
"Well, I told you then that everything was as nice as it could be. At that time it was. But now—"
"What's happened, sir?" asked Tom.
"What hasn't happened you mean!" snorted Logan. "The very next day we had a visit from Vidac himself. He made a routine check of all the departments, stopped and talked to some of the colonists, and he seemed, in general, like a nice fellow. Then all of a sudden it started."
"What?" asked Astro.
"Our skipper Winters and another fellow, Ed Bush, began treating us like—well, like prisoners!"
"Prisoners!" cried Tom.
"Yes!" said Logan. "They began to tell us when we couldn't go to the workshop and to the stereos, and made us eat our meals together in the main assembly room, with the wives taking turns doing all the cooking. And the schooling has been cut altogether."
"Why, why—" Tom was floored by the information. "But how can that be?"
"I don't know," said Logan, "but that's the way it is. I came over to tell you boys about it, since you were the only ones I knew. You struck me as being honest and I felt I could trust you."