"Oh?" said Keg, with a frown. "Then you haven't heard?"
"Heard what?"
"Hellion Murdoch has been on the loose for weeks."
"Weeks!" yelled Channing.
"Uh-huh. He feigned gangrene, was taken to the base hospital where he raised hob in his own, inimitable way. He blasted the communications set-up completely, ruined three spaceships, and made off with the fourth. The contact ship just touched there recently and found hell brewing. If they hadn't had a load of supplies and prisoners for the place, they wouldn't have known about it for months, perhaps."
"So! Brother Murdoch is loose again. Well! The story dovetails in nicely."
"You think that was Hellion himself?"
"I'd bet money on it. The official report on Hellion Murdoch said that he was suffering from a very slight persecution complex, and that he was capable of making something of it if he got the chance. He's slightly whacky, and dangerously so."
"He's a brilliant man, isn't he?"
"Quite. His name is well known in the circles of neuro-surgery. He is also known to be an excellent research worker in applied physics."