"We're short," Hugh Warren pointed out, "five men. The five as whom you masqueraded when you came aboard. Two of these were spacemen. We can spare them. Another two were blasters. We can get by without them, too, though it means longer shifts and harder work for the remaining four. But the other one—" He shook his head—"we're really going to need him. He was Fred Harkness, my first mate. A good spaceman with a keen mind for figures and a swift, intuitive ability at handling a ship in an emergency. If we run into any snags we're going to wish he was along."
"Then why did you let him go?" asked Gary.
Warren grinned a tight, lopsided grin. "For the same reason I gave the other four leave. Because I knew I'd never be able to convince him I was doing the right thing. He was strong on discipline. He would have wanted no part of this escapade."
That was something which had been troubling Dr. Gary Lane. He said thoughtfully, "And you, Hugh? You're not sorry?"
"That I cast my lot in with yours? Made your cause mine? No." Warren shook his head decidedly. "Decidedly not. I'm sorry I had to, on the surface at least, play traitor to the uniform I wear. But under the circumstances I believe I did the proper thing. This little emblem—" he touched the small gold rocket pinned above his heart—"is inscribed with the motto of the Solar Space Patrol: 'Order out of Chaos.' That is the duty to which we are charged above all others. And though for a time it means flying in the face of orders and conventions, I feel the importance of our task justifies my desertion.
"If—" his jaw set tightly—"if we succeed in doing that which you say we must, exoneration will follow swiftly and surely."
"And," said Gary softly, "if we do not?"
Warren shrugged. "The question carries its own answer. If we do not, then according to your own calculations, there will be no Hugh Warren to stand trial, nor court to sit in judgment upon his sins."
Thus sped the Liberty through space at a rate of speed attained by no other spaceship before her. Each passing hour found Earth dwindling smaller and dimmer behind them; each hour saw Earth's sister planet looming ever larger and brighter before.