"I believe so, but I do not certainly know. It has proved to be a task of such difficulty——"
"If it had been an easy one I would not have made a special assignment of it to you. Go on!"
"Everything seems to point to a planet named Arisia, but of that planet I can learn nothing definite whatever except that——"
"Just a moment!" Helmuth punched more buttons and listened. "Unexplored—unknown—shunned by all spacemen——"
"Superstition, eh?" he snapped. "Another of those haunted planets?"
"Something more than ordinary spacemen's superstition, sir, but just what I have not been able to discover. By combing my department I managed to make up a crew of those who either were not afraid of it or have never heard of it. That crew is now en route there."
"Whom have we in that sector of space? I find it desirable to check your findings."
The department head reeled off a list of names and numbers, which Helmuth considered at length.
"Gildersleeve, the Valerian," he announced finally. "He is a good man, coming along fast. Aside from a firm belief in his own peculiar gods, he has shown no signs of weakness. You considered him?"
"Certainly." The henchman, as cold as his icy chief, knew that explanations would not satisfy Helmuth, therefore he offered none. "He is raiding at the moment, but I will put you on him if you like."