As captured January 23, 2025

8 files changed, 6628 insertions, 3733 deletions

diff --git a/66211-0.txt b/66211-0.txt
index c996896..888a468 100644
--- a/66211-0.txt
+++ b/66211-0.txt
@@ -1,1772 +1,1401 @@
-The Project Gutenberg eBook of X Marks the Asteroid, by Ross Rocklynne

-

-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and

-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions

-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms

-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at

-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you

-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before

-using this eBook.

-

-Title: X Marks the Asteroid

-

-Author: Ross Rocklynne

-

-Release Date: September 3, 2021 [eBook #66211]

-

-Language: English

-

-Character set encoding: UTF-8

-

-Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed

-             Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

-

-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK X MARKS THE ASTEROID ***

-

-

-

-

-X MARKS THE ASTEROID

-

-By Ross Rocklynne

-

-Deep in space Ralph's ancestors lay in suspended

-animation--a price on their heads. They left him a

-map and a problem: awaken them--or collect the reward!...

-

-[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from

-Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy

-January 1954

-Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that

-the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

-

-

-The Unterzuyder map was out of hiding. Relayed on a grapevine that

-spanned the planets, the news caught on big in Marsport.

-

-Bigger Bailes sat at a beer-bottle-colored glass desk in his underworld

-retreat, announcing his intent to claim the reward money that for

-eighty-five years had been piling up at compound interest in the

-Terra-First National Bank of New York.

-

-"Ralph Unterzuyder is here in Marsport," he stated. "Like all

-Unterzuyders, he's clever and he's dangerous and he's shifty. He'll

-travel the crookedest course you ever saw. At the moment, he's got his

-identity pretty well covered up under the name of Carruthers Straley.

-In the last three weeks he's organized a band of settlers from

-Satterfield City who call themselves Titan Settlers, Ltd.

-

-"Not that I'm fooled! I'm not saying the Unterzuyder hibernaculum is

-on Titan. I'm not even saying Unterzuyder has the map. But I'm willing

-to bet he's got a pretty good idea where the map is. I'm also willing

-to bet that his father died without leaving him a cent, and that he

-organized Titan Settlers, Ltd., just to get himself a free ride out

-Saturn-way. He's capable of that kind of reasoning."

-

-Bigger Bailes smiled rosily and reached for his hat. One of his men

-held the door open for him.

-

-"Right now, I'm on my way to see Carruthers Straley. Maybe he will cut

-in with me. If not--" he thoughtfully rubbed at the fat of his big jaw

-"--if not, I'll help him hang himself."

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Ralph Unterzuyder, fourth generation descendant of the infamous

-Unterzuyders, emerged testily from the Glass & Sand Bldg. where he

-had just set up a law office under the name of Carruthers Straley. No

-sooner had he set foot to the glass sidewalk than he was aware a big,

-smiling man had fallen into step beside him. He backed up against the

-wall of the building, his eyes wide and cautious behind dark glasses.

-

-"What do you want?" he snapped.

-

-Bigger Bailes smiled, introduced himself. Unterzuyder looked around as

-if ready to make a break for it. Bailes stood in front of him. He shook

-his head.

-

-"I'm not going to hurt you, Mr. Unterzuyder."

-

-At mention of the name, Unterzuyder smiled arrogantly.

-

-"Really, does one have no privacy? But perhaps one of your caliber is

-well acquainted with the advantages of using an alias!"

-

-"There are advantages," Bigger nodded. "Your advantage lies in heading

-a group of settlers who don't know you're using them to help you find

-the asteroid where your ancestors have been sleeping for the past

-eighty-odd years."

-

-Unterzuyder's cane whipped around nervously. "I know nothing about a

-map!"

-

-Bigger's jowls quivered with mirth. "Seven weeks ago," he pointed out,

-"your father died. He told you the map was hidden in an old book called

-_Tertium Organum_, A Key To The Enigmas Of The World. By somebody named

-Ouspensky."

-

-Unterzuyder's eyes moved desperately to the street, down which a single

-gyromobile moved.

-

-"I have an appointment," he said stiffly. "Now if you will permit me to

-be on my way before they turn the rain-makers on--"

-

-"It won't rain for ten minutes. Better let me finish--if you don't want

-your precious settlers to know who you really are!

-

-"As soon as your aunt heard about your father's death, she put the

-old Unterzuyder house up for auction to pay your father's creditors.

-The furniture went mostly to junk-dealers, the rest to museums. All

-the books, some ten thousand of them, were bought by a big New York

-used-book company, Frangy & Sons, Ltd.

-

-"Half of these books, the ones whose titles all began with the letters

-of the alphabet up through 'M', were kept in their New York branch. The

-remainder were sent to open a book store in Marsport. By the time you

-got to Marsport from Earth, the book was reported already sold--to a

-person unknown. That's all true, _isn't_ it?

-

-"After having failed to find the map, Mr. Unterzuyder, you then sent

-the story to a newspaper--anonymously."

-

-"I did?" Unterzuyder looked arrogantly at Bailes.

-

-"Yes." Bigger's eyes narrowed. "Why?"

-

-Unterzuyder surged angrily away from the wall. "I am not interested in

-your questions. I have my chosen mission in life. It is not the making

-of money!"

-

-He brandished his cane. "I warn you, Mr. Bailes," he cried, "I am a

-nervous man. If I am not permitted to leave--"

-

-Bigger spread his hands, astonished. "Don't think for a minute I'm

-keeping you. The only suggestion I wanted to make was that you and I

-could work together."

-

-Unterzuyder took off his glasses. There were red marks around his eyes

-where the glasses had taken hold. He had inherited the famous thin

-nose and receding chin of the Unterzuyders. His pale thin lips worked

-nervously.

-

-"I work alone, Mr. Bailes," he said haughtily. "And I work best when

-such as you try to set your pitiful little traps! Threaten me as you

-will, nothing can keep me from my purpose. And now good-day."

-

-Bigger's voice was filled with disgust. "Your purpose being, of course,

-to find asteroid X and free your ancestors so they can go to work on

-the Solar System again!"

-

-Unterzuyder glared, primly returned his glasses to his nose, and

-stalked off.

-

-"Scoundrel!" he muttered, putting his hand over his heart. He gasped.

-It was racing. And he was sweating. Trembling. His mother, the

-Unterzuyder matriarch, had been quite right. He should take care of his

-health.

-

-By the time he caught a one-wheeled gyromobile that came bowling down

-the glass street, he was feeling much better.

-

-"Take me to the Hotel de Mars," he told the driver. He leaned back

-comfortably, gloved hands resting on the head of his cane while he

-looked around him. A strange, glass-domed city, set in the heart of

-Mars' desert wastelands. A thriving city, with low buildings touching

-the glass roof of the dome.

-

-The rain-maker went on, the first drops splattering down from the

-overhead sprinkler system. Unterzuyder cringed.

-

-"Driver, driver!" he cried, rapping smartly with his cane. "Do you want

-me to catch my death?"

-

-The driver hurriedly caused the separate halves of the glassteel cupola

-to fold over the car. Unterzuyder settled back injuredly.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-At the registration desk of the Hotel de Mars, he asked for, and was

-shown to the room of, Mr. Nathaniel and Miss Fayette Beecher. The door

-was thrown open by a tanned blonde girl in smart gray jodhpurs and

-slick boots.

-

-Her face at first registered a nervousness. Then it smoothed.

-

-"Oh!" she sang out, blue eyes widening and taking him in from head to

-toe. "You must be Mr. Straley." She cocked her lively face cutely to

-one side. "_Are_ you?"

-

-Unterzuyder's heart banged. He bit his lip. This was exactly the kind

-of girl his dead mother warned him to stay away from. Coquettish. Sexy.

-Treacherous, like most females. And he had lately noticed, to his

-dismay, that he, an Unterzuyder, was becoming far too susceptible to

-such unhealthy influences.

-

-"I am Mr. Straley," he said coldly. "Carruthers Straley, founder of

-Titan Settlers, Ltd. Shall I come in?"

-

-"Please _do_. For a moment, I lost my wits."

-

-She's making a play for me, like all females, he thought.

-Discouragedly, Unterzuyder went in. He sat down on a sponge-plastic

-chair, resting his gloved hands on his cane and looking upon the girl

-sternly.

-

-"Daddy!" she sang out. "Mr. Straley is here!"

-

-A man with a half-bald head and a deep tan lunged into the room

-carrying a heavy rocket-gun. His grin was wide, his voice reedy and

-enthusiastic. He was happy to know Mr. Straley. He laid the gun

-tenderly on the floor. Unterzuyder looked at it distrustfully.

-

-Beecher's reedy laugh sounded. "It's not cocked," he explained. "You

-caught me right in the middle of a clean-and-polish job. That ol' gun

-o' mine's been everywhere, mister. Most of the Moons of Jupiter, out

-on the deserts--even Africa. Yessir, our exploring expeditions have

-taken us into every corner of the Solar System that's available."

-

-The girl whipped open a drawer in the bottom of a boxy chair made of

-crystal glassteel. "And here's _my_ pet!" She reached in to pull out

-a long-snouted neutron gun with a triple trigger. Unterzuyder's heart

-banged for the third time in an hour. In the drawer was one other

-object: _Tertium Organum_, A Key To The Enigmas Of The World.

-

-An old book. A musty book. The book from his beloved dead father's

-library. The book that held the Unterzuyder map.

-

-His breath hissed. Beecher leaned solicitously forward. "Anything

-wrong, Mr. Straley?"

-

-"Oh, no, nothing," said Unterzuyder, pain wrenching his face. "But I'm

-not a healthy man. My heart--"

-

-"Oh, what a shame." Fayette leaned over him, dizzying him with her

-perfume. She put her warm little hand on his forehead. She held his

-wrist to feel his pulse. She shook her blonde curls vigorously. "Nope.

-No fever. The pulse _did_ seem to race a little when I held your hand.

-Outside of that--" She surveyed him judicially. "I'll bet you're as

-healthy as a Venusian peat-dog!"

-

-"Oh, come now," protested Beecher. "If the man says he's got a

-galloping heart, that's what he's got. Think of the courage, the

-idealism, the sheer fortitude of this man, who has gathered together a

-group of settlers to brave the dangers of a jungle-world like Titan--a

-planet no one has ever attempted to colonize! I personally _hand_ it to

-the man!"

-

-There was a fawning admiration on his unshaven, grinning face.

-

-Unterzuyder settled back in his chair, feeling put upon.

-

-"I'm afraid of guns," he told Fayette petulantly. "If you'd please put

-it away--Besides--" He drew a clipping from his bill-fold. "--I am

-already convinced of your prowess as explorers."

-

-The headlines on the clipping read:

-

-                         EXPLORERS RETURN FROM

-                          GANYMEDE ICE TUNDRA

-                          Father and daughter

-                           make unique team

-

-"It says quite a bit about the expeditions you two have headed.

-Needless to say, I'm impressed! I am here, of course, to make you a

-proposition."

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-He explained his purpose at some length. For several weeks he had been

-engaged on a project dear to his heart. He believed in the future of

-the human race. He wanted to spread mankind's dominion even beyond the

-Moons of Jupiter. Titan had been viewed by only two men, both of whom

-stated it was livable. It had soil. It had vegetation. Also, it had

-dangerous animal life.

-

-"That's for us!" said Fayette stoutly. She accidentally pointed the

-neutron gun at Unterzuyder. She was squirming around on her chair with

-repressed vitality. Her eyes melted on him. He wished he could get over

-the feeling that she was laying it on too thick. That perfume. He must

-not allow himself to be affected.

-

-He cringed from the gun. She hastily put it on the floor. He wondered

-how accidental it might have been. Probably these cheap opportunists

-were perfectly capable of killing.

-

-He would have to watch his step. They had the map, all right. The

-bookseller's description of Fayette had been quite correct and helpful.

-

-Fortunately, the bookseller had been willing to accept a bribe not to

-give anybody else the information.

-

-He spoke again.

-

-"When I received your viso-call, Miss Beecher, I at once felt that

-Titan Settlers could work with you. I seriously discussed with them

-the possibility of giving you and your father titular command of the

-expedition."

-

-"Uh--" said Fayette. "You've already been capitalized?"

-

-Unterzuyder coughed delicately. "My intrepid settlers are composed

-of young husbands and wives and their children. I was able to sell

-them--that is--the magic allure of a new world was really all that

-was necessary to convince them that Titan is where their destiny lay.

-They sold all their belongings, and--ah--invested the funds with me as

-Treasurer of the organization."

-

-Beecher smacked his hands together enthusiastically.

-

-"Fine, fine! There's nothing the daughter and I like better than to

-push on into a new frontier. Mr. Straley, for twenty thousand credits

-we're bought!"

-

-Unterzuyder sat bolt upright. "Ten thousand credits," he said severely,

-"is the top amount we can offer. That is final. With one thousand

-credits in advance!"

-

-He whipped out a check book. He adjusted his glasses. Primly, he wrote

-a check and extended it with a jabbing motion, holding it for perhaps

-thirty seconds before Beecher's crestfallen face turned toward his

-daughter. Fayette was looking with intense interest at the check.

-

-"Why not? Mr. Straley, like you, we're idealists. Money means hardly

-anything. I think you've made a deal!"

-

-Beecher stowed the check in his wallet with satisfaction. "Now we'll

-get busy. Of course, we'll have to have a drawing account. We'll have

-to discuss details, such as the number of settlers to be transported

-so I can buy or charter the proper type of space ship. There's the

-matter of building supplies to be bought--grain seeds--food--a thousand

-details which you can leave entirely in our hands, Mr. Straley!

-

-"And while we're at it, I'd like to shake your hand! It's very few

-people who'd endanger their own lives to further the progress of

-mankind!"

-

-The experience left Unterzuyder weak. He looked appealingly at Fayette.

-"I wonder if a glass of water--" he said feebly.

-

-Hurriedly she disappeared to the apartment kitchen. Unterzuyder slumped

-lower in the seat, breathing hard.

-

-"Maybe," he told Beecher helplessly, "a shot of whiskey would do the

-trick better."

-

-"Sure thing!" Beecher went after his daughter. As soon as they were

-both out of the room, Unterzuyder got up and pulled open the drawer

-containing _Tertium Organum_, A Key To The Enigmas Of The World.

-Quickly he unfolded the chart in the back of the book. The map should

-be there.

-

-It wasn't.

-

-He slapped the drawer shut, sank feebly back to his seat. The Beechers

-were gone an inordinately long time. He thought he heard them

-whispering in the kitchen. Then Beecher lunged back into the room

-bearing a jigger of no doubt cheap rye. Unterzuyder gulped it down and

-put the glass to one side.

-

-Fayette was admiring. "For a man in poor health," she exclaimed, "you

-take it without a whimper--or a chaser!"

-

-"Eh?" Unterzuyder blinked, then drew himself up stiffly. "Whiskey is

-the only medicine my doctor permits. And now, let's get down to the

-matter of the contract!"

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-One month later.

-

-Ralph Unterzuyder was furious. He stalked the darkened decks of the

-trembling space ship _Ares_--a slick hundred-tonner with sixty square

-feet of firing surface--and reflected that the Beechers were making a

-worse sucker out of him than he'd expected them to.

-

-First, they were a pair of fakers. That much had been obvious from the

-start, with that phony newspaper write-up, all that bragging about

-their knowledge of fire-arms when they didn't even know enough to keep

-a weapon pointed toward the floor. Well, he'd expected that much. But

-to discover they did not even have _basic_ knowledge of how to outfit

-an expedition!

-

-They had actually begun ordering _lumber_ for building, until he

-pointed out the climate of Titan might be kinder to prefabricated

-glassteel sections.

-

-They had actually paid out money for seeds, bulbs, and saplings until

-he showed that all farming on Titan must for the present be on an

-experimental or at best highly speculative basis.

-

-Not only that, they had attempted to charter a ship twice as big

-as needed, one that used large quantities of chemical fuels. That

-ridiculous error had been amended with a smaller ship sporting

-atomic gas-thrust. As for the captain and crew, they had been hired

-by Unterzuyder himself--and, by means of the secret passage of one

-thousand credits from Titan Settlers' funds to Captain Foshag, the

-captain and crew were bought.

-

-Unterzuyder balanced himself angrily down a companionway. As he

-passed a hanging ventilator, the drum-beat and skittering rhythm of

-a jury-rigged orchestra echoed up from the ballroom. A dance was in

-progress. Unterzuyder smiled sentimentally. Nothing like giving the

-settlers a run for their money.

-

-Of course, he reflected dourly, Fayette Beecher had got the best of

-him in the matter of using the drawing account. Unterzuyder scowled.

-What had got into him? Somehow, Fayette's roving blue eyes and fiery

-touch did their work on him. Next thing he knew, he was in duress,

-being dragged on the arm of that fluffy creature from one dress shop to

-another.

-

-An expense account to buy swirling party dresses?--with a smidgin here

-and there for fancy explorers' outfits? The memory of his folly made

-Unterzuyder squirm.

-

-He sighed heavily as he came to C deck. Anyway, by his own cleverness,

-he had a ship, he had the Beechers--who had the map!

-

-And the hibernaculum asteroid, where his dozen infamous ancestors were

-sleeping away the decades under the influence of a potent, forbidden

-drug called somnolene, was somewhere out near Titan. Or _had been_.

-

-That was the one thing he remembered when, as a child, his father

-showed him the legendary map. At least he was headed for the area where

-the asteroid _might be_.

-

-And so might, he reflected glumly, that arrogant, impossible Bigger

-Bailes!

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-The Beecher's double-state-room was on C deck. Just as he turned an L

-in the corridor, he ran head-on into a gaily running figure clad in a

-fluffy party dress.

-

-For a moment they struggled in an attempt to regain their balance,

-and when Unterzuyder came out of it he was holding Fayette Beecher

-tightly, and he was kissing her warm little face. She responded just as

-energetically. And suddenly he woke up to the horror of the role he had

-assumed.

-

-He shoved her away. She stumbled backward and there was a glassy

-tinkling sound.

-

-"Ooh, your glasses!" cried Fayette, making a grab for them. He grabbed,

-too, suddenly convinced he had gone blind. "They're broken, Ralph,

-honey!" she said. "You look so much better without them." She flung her

-arms around him again, pressing him back to the wall. Her lips drooped

-disappointedly.

-

-"I--I'm fond of you," she said unhappily. "But you're so darned

-peculiar. You fell all over yourself kissing me. Now you're backing

-off. What's wrong?"

-

-Unterzuyder was scared. It came as a shock to him that the extreme

-emergency of the situation had given him, by some hypnotic process,

-better vision than he'd ever had. In spite of the darkness of the hall,

-he could see that Fayette was ravishing. She could make a strong man

-weak. Well, he would not give her that opportunity.

-

-Besides, something she'd said just now, something he couldn't put his

-finger on, had subconsciously frightened him. What?

-

-These treacherous Beechers!

-

-Maybe she was using her indomitable weapon to win him over. To what?

-

-Perhaps to cut him in on the map. X marks the spot, indeed! X was a

-moving asteroid. It had been moving for some eighty-odd years since the

-map was made. To find its present location was a problem in celestial

-mechanics. The map would have to be deciphered. Not only that, the

-original maker of the map, being an Unterzuyder, had undoubtedly

-confused the issue by making the job hard even for a mathematician.

-

-Naturally, the Beechers hadn't dared take the map to anybody for

-deciphering. To do so, might have brought the whole criminal element

-in the Solar System after them. That of course, was a little thing

-Unterzuyder himself had arranged--when he anonymously gave the details

-of the story to the press.

-

-The Beechers had been boxed in.

-

-Now, in desperation, the Beechers probably figured that if Fayette

-could make Carruthers Straley fall in love with her, that he, being a

-lawyer, might have a devious enough mind to think like an Unterzuyder

-and decipher the map! _And_ not betray them.

-

-They did not understand that Ralph Unterzuyder, alias Carruthers

-Straley, worked alone.

-

-They would find it out. And so would Bigger Bailes.

-

-He answered her direct question stiffly. "I shall continue to back

-off, Fayette. Love is an emotion which can be defined in various

-unflattering terms. I would not care to tumble your romantic castles!

-My mother--"

-

-"Aha! Your mother!" She leaped upon the word with a knowing and very

-wide grin. Then she took advantage of his pinned position against the

-bulkhead to kiss him again, determinedly and hard. For a wild half of

-eternity, his senses were swept away on a skittering whirlwind. Then by

-main force he tore away and lunged down the corridor.

-

-"Mr. Straley!" There was a bubble of repressed laughter. "I was going

-to ask if you'd take me to the dance!"

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-He did not answer. His flight was precipitous. It was not for several

-minutes that he realized the loss of his glasses had not impeded his

-vision. He leaned weakly against a bulkhead. Very early in life, his

-parents had insisted that the inherited weak eyes of the Unterzuyders

-be made normal with ocular aids. Indeed, powerful, dark eye-glasses had

-grown, over the generations, to be a symbol of Unterzuyder autocracy.

-

-His parents had been wrong.

-

-Perhaps they had been wrong in other things.

-

-He shuddered. Without his eye-glasses, he hardly felt himself to be an

-Unterzuyder.

-

-Slowly, memory of his original purpose in ordering Captain Foshag to

-throw a dance came back.

-

-In the ballroom, Beecher would be strutting to win the favor of

-somebody's wife.

-

-With a bit more success, Fayette would have a dozen young husbands

-circling her moth-like.

-

-Intrigue, thought Unterzuyder, and subtlety, is ever the adventurer's

-most potent weapon. The great general indirectly entices the foe away

-from his own most strongly held point!

-

-Several minutes later, he was fitting his pass-key into the door of the

-Beechers' stateroom. He closed the door, switched on the radi-lights.

-The efficiently furnished little rooms were brightly illumined.

-

-The map. Where? Start at the beginning. At first glance, _Tertium

-Organum_ was not in the bookcase. Then he reached in back of the row of

-lurid fiction titles and knew he had guessed correctly.

-

-A little too correctly!

-

-He felt one of the few cold chills of his life traveling on his spine.

-He opened the book and the map fell out. He sat down weakly. His

-fingers trembled as he smoothed out the heavy rag parchment.

-

-A map of the Solar System. He dizzied. X marks the asteroid. Just as he

-remembered seeing it that long ago day when his great father showed it

-to him.

-

-His father, that stern-faced giant in whom the valiant blood of the

-hibernating Unterzuyders flowed, had been most explicit. One of these

-years, the map would be given to Ralph. He would guard it with his

-blood. In the course of time, Ralph would give it to _his_ son.

-

-At long last, the hibernaculum would be opened, the dozen

-hibernating Unterzuyders would be brought to life with injections of

-anti-somnolene, and would once more take over their rightful place of

-dominance in the Solar System.

-

-The position they had been scourged from by a relentless political

-regime which had smashed the Unterzuyders' fabulous tri-planet cartels,

-leaving the remnants in the form of a thousand rigidly controlled small

-holding companies.

-

-The position they had been forced to flee from, leaving only their

-children--and a hidden map.

-

-Unterzuyder's fingers still shook. Sweat dribbled down his blonde

-hair-line. Something was wrong. Everything was wrong. The map itself

-was hideously out of scale.

-

-The traced orbits of the planets were circular, _not_ elliptical.

-

-And the map itself.

-

-_I should not have found it so easily_.

-

-Counter-intrigue?

-

-No time to lose.

-

-From his inside pocket, he took the flat little duplico-camera,

-adjusted the frame over the map. He flipped the shutter. Seconds later,

-the map was back exactly where he'd taken it from.

-

-There was only one sound in this quiet room, the tremor of the

-gas-thrust shoving the ship through dark void into the spaces beyond

-Jupiter. Suddenly, there was the scuffle of moving feet beyond the door.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Unterzuyder found himself in the position of a traveler in an alien

-city where savage little children had switched all the street signs.

-Nonetheless, he lunged for the door, threw off the lights in the

-stateroom, opened the door, closed it, stood with his back pressed

-against it.

-

-Hurrying footsteps. Unterzuyder was after the sound.

-

-The big, hurrying frame of Captain Foshag. Unterzuyder grabbed his

-arm, whipped him around. Foshag's hairy, dignified face was wrenched

-with astonishment.

-

-"Mr. Straley," he said uncertainly. His brow clouded. He looked at

-Unterzuyder's grip on his heavy arm and frowned with displeasure. He

-shook off the hand. "I'm not used to being manhandled, sir! You've

-perhaps imbibed too much at the party?" He was being sternly insulting.

-

-Unterzuyder crumbled. He could be wrong.

-

-"I--haven't been well. My heart--" He touched at his chest

-apologetically. It wasn't too far from the truth. Pains in his chest.

-His mother had always assured him the Unterzuyders were prone to heart

-trouble. Just as she'd got around to making him wear glasses. Terrible

-uncertainties were crowding him. He was surrounded by treachery. Had

-Foshag been shadowing him?

-

-Foshag's great frame rocked judicially on its toes.

-

-"If you truly have a bad heart," he said measuredly, "you'd have

-taken the long trail when the _Ares_ hit heaven. We humans often are

-plagued with strange influences. Words spoken to the unguarded mind of

-the child sometimes become fact to the grownup. I'd not worry about

-the heart. And now, the reason I am away from the turret. I've been

-looking for you."

-

-He cleared his throat. "There's a king-sized ship of the Silver type

-on our tail, Mr. Straley. I'm not the worrying kind, however. Worry is

-indeed the prime cause of most kidney troubles, and, besides, beclouds

-the mind when there's work to be done. Therefore, not until I observed

-that the pursuing craft was indeed pursuing--"

-

-"Come to the point!" Everything else was swept away. Unterzuyder was

-suddenly furious at this big, stupid, philosophizing blunderer. "You're

-trying to excuse yourself for not telling me right away. Let's get to

-the turret!"

-

-Unterzuyder went at full stride, his brain in high gear. They were

-being pursued. That arrogant Bigger Bailes, no doubt! So what? Add one

-more menace to those he was collecting. In fact, mess up the mess a

-little more.

-

-"Captain Foshag," he said, "you are a well-read man. Ever read

-Ouspensky?"

-

-Foshag nodded his square bearded chin. "A man of vast creative mental

-power, Mr. Straley. A man who seemed able to step off our three

-dimensions and look at the universe from a new viewpoint." Tentatively:

-"You have an interest in the classical philosophers, perhaps?"

-

-Unterzuyder muttered something garbled. He trotted ahead of Foshag up

-the ramp to the glassed-in control turret, went past several instrument

-men to the viewing disk assembly. Foshag hurriedly got the pursuing

-ship on the cross-hairs. It was a great globoid catching golden-green

-sun on one half, black interstellar shadow on the other.

-

-"Raise it on the beam!" Unterzuyder ordered.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Moments later, Ralph Unterzuyder was looking into the detested face of

-Bigger Bailes.

-

-"That's me," smiled Bigger, his rosy face creasing. "Bigger Bailes. And

-how are you, Mr. Ralph Unterzuyder?" His smile became even more rosy.

-

-Unterzuyder gulped. He was completely dismayed. Captain Foshag showed

-no reaction at the unmasking. Captain Foshag kept his face turned

-studiously away.

-

-Unterzuyder felt himself going into a spin.

-

-But he drew himself up and said haughtily, "Kindly keep your inside

-information to yourself, Mr. Bigger Bailes. I travel under the name of

-Carruthers Straley merely because there is an unsavory flavor to the

-name of Unterzuyder!

-

-"Now, why are you following us?"

-

-"Following you?" Bigger Bailes appeared injured. "I'm trying to catch

-up with you. I intend to come aboard--"

-

-"_You will not!_" Unterzuyder yelled the words so loud the crew members

-in back of him half-jumped from their charts.

-

-Bigger's image wavered on the screen as he leaned forward and settled

-back.

-

-"I didn't expect such a reaction, Mr.--Straley," he said. His little

-eyes, almost hidden by fat, were penetrating. "I'd almost think you

-were hiding something. Are you?"

-

-Foshag raised a commanding hand. "That'll be enough of that," he

-commanded. "We're a law-abiding ship. I myself am an honest man.

-Secrecy gives rise to certain nervous disorders which I avoid. If you

-wish to come aboard, perhaps you are taking advantage of some Space

-Article?"

-

-"Taking advantage? If you want to put it that way. Two of my men

-are down sick. The usual spastic seizures. We've run out of ATG.

-We're coming aboard your ship to get some. Article 10b of the Space

-Constitution gives us that right."

-

-Unterzuyder brushed Foshag aside.

-

-"I warn you, Mr. Bailes," he said thickly, "if you have any ulterior

-motive, such as looting this ship, we will put up a fight! Our

-settlers were chosen for their intrepid qualities. We have guns. We

-have bombs. We have a flare-cannon. You will not find us easy prey!"

-

-Bailes leaned back easily. "Relax, Unterzuyder. As far as guns

-go, we've got our share. And we have got a brace of flare-cannons

-embrasured into the bulkheads of the _Space-Queen_ ourselves, if you

-want to get tough."

-

-He spread his fat hands. "But who wants to get tough? See you

-gentlemen, aboard your ship, twenty-four hours from now." With which

-remark he broke contact.

-

-Unterzuyder was at Foshag instantly.

-

-"Not a word about my identity," he breathed. "After all, I did pay you

-a thousand credits!"

-

-"And for which I thanked you! Mr. Unterzuyder, I am not a secretive

-man. If asked a direct question, I seldom impair my health by lying.

-Now permit me to return to my duties."

-

-Fuming, Unterzuyder left the control turret, went straight to the

-ballroom. Here, without any hesitation whatever, he cut in on Fayette,

-taking her away from the handsomest husband in the lot. No word of

-apology.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-He held her very close, very tight. He danced with a mathematical

-precision. Even the soul of the dance, he reflected grimly, derives

-from a mathematical formula. The dummy four-piece band haggered out

-its hag-strut very effectively. He was rewarded as Fayette lost her

-surprised stiffness, and began to melt into him in perfect rhythm to

-the tune. Her blonde head gradually nestled into his shoulder, her eyes

-closed, a small, sweet smile on her lips.

-

-At the first opportunity, he swung her without a break to a small

-observation lounge, and in the cold green glow of a million stars drew

-her to him, letting himself be stunned by the warmth of her and the

-drugging quality of her perfume. He kissed her. He was carried away

-into a land of intricate enchantment where Love is All, and the Girl in

-my Arms is You.

-

-She opened her eyes, looking at him dreamily. "I love you," she

-murmured.

-

-"I know," said Unterzuyder.

-

-"I don't know what your intentions are. I don't care what kind of a

-sneaky, underhanded person you are, I still love you."

-

-He kissed her again. She was crying. Unterzuyder took out his

-handkerchief and wiped away her tears. "Now don't worry, Fayette," he

-soothed. "Everything will turn out all right." He took her back to the

-dance floor. By luck he found the young husband she'd been dancing

-with. He gave her back.

-

-"Sorry!" he said. He gave Fayette a fleeting smile and hurriedly took

-off.

-

-He went to his cabin and feverishly got to work. Plug up the loopholes

-as you go along! A favorite axiom of the Unterzuyders. Now that Fayette

-was in love with him, he could draw on her for any emergency.

-

-Apparently the time was coming when he would need an ally.

-

-He ran the negative through the hypo, put it in the dryer and paced

-the floor. He rubbed at his lips with the back of his hand. He could

-still smell Fayette's perfume. He could still feel her bare warm back.

-Careful, careful. He went to a mirror and looked at his face. Weak. The

-glassless eyes red-rimmed. Thin nose and lips. His spirits dropped. How

-could Fayette be in love with him? Particularly when he was one of the

-outlawed Unterzuyders.

-

-The finished photograph went into the automatic pantograph. He blew

-it up six times onto a square of Mirac paper. He smoothed the new map

-onto the desk. Instantly he saw why at first the map had appeared so

-impossibly distorted. The circles did not indicate the orbits of the

-planets. They were merely a logarithmic indication of the scale of the

-map.

-

-Mercury, being some 43,000,000 miles from the Sun, was the basic unit.

-And that was necessary.

-

-The Solar System could not be drawn to scale unless the inner planets

-were crowded in fractionally close to the Sun.

-

-Here, the positions of the planets were indicated by dots whose

-map-distance from the Sun receded inward in logarithmic ratio to actual

-distance.

-

-Pluto, for instance, being one hundred times farther from the Sun than

-Mercury in real distance, appeared by the map to be only, roughly,

-twenty times as far.

-

-The position of the dot-planets on the map of course indicated the

-_exact_ date of the day when the map was drawn.

-

-The finely drawn X showed the position of the hibernaculum asteroid _on

-that day_.

-

-Since then, roughly eighty-two years ago, X had moved in its orbit.

-Where to?

-

-That was the problem.

-

-Unterzuyder sweated. It was said by the Unterzuyders, with possible

-justification, that only an Unterzuyder could think like an

-Unterzuyder. How often his father had told him that. But he was

-confused.

-

-Naturally. The map was meant to confuse.

-

-What were the figures at the bottom of the map?

-

-    s-1   .7452

-    c-1  -.202

-

-and

-

-    (0, 3, 2)

-    (1, 1, 8)

-

-And why, at the top corner, was the name unterzuyder printed _with a

-small u_?

-

-Nobody but an Unterzuyder would know.

-

-Well, he didn't know.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Puzzled, he paced the room. Tomorrow Bigger Bailes would force his

-way aboard ship. Little could be done to stop him, partly because he

-insisted he needed ATG, a chemical staff of life necessary for muscular

-action, but mostly because he had superior fire-power. Actually, he

-wanted the map. If he didn't get it, he would inevitably loot the ship.

-

-He paused before the mirror, again. Glassless, he didn't feel like an

-Unterzuyder. Looking upon himself naked of face, he cringed. If only

-the whole thing were over. If only he were in the observatory under the

-greenly burning stars with--

-

-Frantically he stopped that line of thought.

-

-He hauled out a sheaf of maps. He had come prepared. He had brought the

-duplico-camera, the film developing equipment, the pantograph, other

-odds and ends. He had a shelf-full of celestial mechanic manuals, as

-well as books on the more ordinary arithmetics.

-

-But he had had only one year of math. Somewhere along the line, he had

-outguessed his patriarch of a father and his matriarch of a mother: law

-had been the result.

-

-Well suited, he had felt at the time, to the trickery, the deceit, and

-the orneriness of the typical Unterzuyder mind!

-

-Anyway, he needed a slide-rule before he could tackle the equations.

-For the present, he would work out the date the map was made. Then it

-would be possible to discover X's present position.

-

-All that was necessary was, mathematically, to rotate the present-time

-position of the planets backward in time--clockwise, that is--until

-they coincided with map-position.

-

-The star-maps, the Emphemeris, and the Planet Catalogue should make

-that fairly simple.

-

-After an hour, his nerves began to quiver. He ran his hands

-distractedly through his awry blonde hair. He had the answer. And it

-was impossible. Except that it was correct.

-

-Apparently, the map had been drawn up in prehistoric times.

-

-50,000 years ago!

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-After a virtually sleepless sleep-period, he went to breakfast. The

-settlers were in a happy chattering mood. Titan was only ten days away.

-Unterzuyder ate with the pressure of the Beechers' eyes on him.

-

-Nathaniel Beecher showed quiet menace on a face that ordinarily held

-grinning, shifty-eyed comraderie. Fayette had sullen, angry shadows

-under her eyes. Perhaps she was smarting under a humiliation that

-might make her do dangerous things. He had left her rather abruptly at

-the dance. Unterzuyder bit his lip. Perhaps he had not covered that

-situation as well as he might.

-

-Remorse was an emotion new to Unterzuyder. But then he had suffered

-some kind of mental upset when his glasses shattered under Fayette's

-heel. He could see as well as the next man, and consequently was

-beginning to have some shattering doubts about the wisdom of his

-immediate ancestors. And he _was_ a man.

-

-He gulped. All these were dangerous thoughts. He must continue to think

-like an Unterzuyder.

-

-Something devious. Something tricky. Something that would competently

-accomplish the task of fooling the Beechers, Bigger Bailes, and

-possibly Foshag!

-

-As he started out of the dining room, Beecher lunged after him,

-trailing a rocket-stream of cigar smoke.

-

-"A minute, Straley!" Beecher held him from the door, his close-set

-eyes full of dislike. "Foshag told me Bigger Bailes is back there."

-He jerked a shoulder. "You're a man with many small tricks, Straley,"

-he went on slowly. "Probably you're the most dangerous man I've ever

-encountered. I've been around."

-

-"I'll bet you have!"

-

-Beecher gestured with the cigar, turned on his grin, apparently to

-convince anybody watching that this was a friendly conversation.

-

-"But I'm not letting you get away with anything. We have to do

-something about Bailes. I don't intend to be hi-jacked. Truthfully,

-mister, I don't see why the settlers shouldn't be forewarned. They're a

-decent bunch. We're not.

-

-"In fact," his eyes were boring, "I've known from the first that you've

-been using these people."

-

-"As you have--and as you've attempted to use me!"

-

-"Yes." Beecher's lips moved hesitantly. "You and I and Fayette are all

-three getting a free ride to Titan, aren't we? No expenses. So now

-that we've _almost_ laid our cards on the table, why shouldn't we join

-forces?"

-

-Unterzuyder drew himself up disdainfully. "I work alone, Beecher."

-

-"Yeah." Beecher showed disgust. "You mean you're working for something

-no decent person would help you with."

-

-"And you mean by that?"

-

-Beecher's eyes simmered. He said nothing.

-

-Unterzuyder snapped. "I still work alone--unless forced to recruit

-help. That condition may occur. In the meantime, use some of those

-qualities of leadership an _explorer_ should have. Inform these people

-what's up. Tell them Bailes will probably attempt to loot the ship.

-Line the men up at the arsenal and load them down with weapons. Make

-arrangements so the women and children will keep to the cabins. Can you

-handle that?"

-

-Beecher flushed until his face was bright red.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Leaving him properly insulted, Unterzuyder went to the control turret

-where he cornered Foshag, drew him to the Solar Chart.

-

-Unterzuyder picked up a pencil, made an indentation at random. It was

-considerably to the east of the _Ares'_ present position.

-

-"Change course immediately. To that point."

-

-Foshag huffed rebelliously. "That won't help us outrun Bailes. The new

-course will but give him a hypotenuse to travel. He'll run us down

-quicker."

-

-Unterzuyder's lips turned thinner. Muttering, Foshag sat down to the

-computations. On the way out of the turret, Unterzuyder slipped a

-slide-rule out of an instrument case so deftly that nobody noticed.

-

-Another hour's work showed him that the two sets of figures,

-respectively, indicated X's _point of origin_ and _direction of

-travel_. _c_ stood for cosine, of course, _s_ for sine.

-

-X had been, when the map was made, some degrees below the plane of the

-ecliptic. Its orbit was at a steep slant to that plane.

-

-So what? So the point of origin was located in time 50,000 years ago?

-

-The map was a fake!

-

-He sat at the desk a long time, thinking, and thinking fast. Foshag

-must have known who he was from the first. He was an observing man, but

-he was also a close-mouthed man, who answered only to direct questions.

-And the Beechers knew his identity too. Fayette had accidentally called

-him by his real name. Treachery!

-

-Undoubtedly, Bigger Bailes had tipped off the Beechers, just before

-Unterzuyder arrived at the Beechers' apartment in Marsport. Bigger

-Bailes thought Unterzuyder knew where the map was, but didn't know the

-Beechers had it. Bigger intended to let the situation stir itself up so

-the asteroid's location would more easily come out of hiding.

-

-Yes, everything was wrong. Bigger would loot the ship when he learned

-the map was a practical joke. Taking a ship this far beyond Jupiter

-would have to pay off. And there was nobody to stop him.

-

-What was it his father told him about Unterzuyder techniques? Sell

-short at the top, buy long at the bottom. All events, good or bad,

-could be used to build a firmer superstructure!

-

-Well, face it! Ship's course had been changed. The settlers by this

-time had demanded to know why. Beecher would tell them Carruthers

-Straley was Ralph Unterzuyder, hunting for a hibernaculum!

-

-The settlers by this time were up in arms against him.

-

-He paled. He leaped to the door, listened. Footsteps. Patrolling his

-room.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-He returned to the table. Make use of the situation. Dredge it for

-what it's worth! He crossed shakily to the audio and called Fayette's

-number. Luckily, Fayette and not her father answered.

-

-"Fayette--darling." The word came out huskily. It was hard to say. It

-sounded real.

-

-"_Who?_" Then her voice was uneven. "You called me darling. Are you

-sure you're in your right mind?"

-

-"I mean it, dear." _Did he?_ "I couldn't forget last night."

-

-He was falling into the self-made trap of the dishonest, unable to tell

-his own truth from his own falsehood.

-

-"All right," she said unevenly. "So you couldn't forget it? So what?"

-

-He spoke softly. Please, he had to see her in his room right away. It

-was urgent. Would she come now? A long silence. Yes, she would come.

-No, she wouldn't tell her father. Positively. Five minutes later

-she slipped into the room. She barely opened the door. He took her

-instantly into his arms. When he figured he had kissed her enough, he

-let her drop limply into a chair.

-

-The circles under her eyes were worse. She looked miserable. He drew up

-a chair, tenderly took her hands in his.

-

-"Look at me, Fayette. I'm going to make a confession that will shock

-you. I'm not Carruthers Straley. I'm Ralph Unterzuyder."

-

-She didn't look shocked. He pretended not to notice.

-

-He told her selected portions of the story. "I suspected you had the

-map. I examined _Tertium Organum_ in your apartment yesterday when you

-and your father were in the kitchen."

-

-_And you wanted me to examine it! So I'd be sure to hire you and

-Beecher and take you with me to Saturn. That was the reason you posed

-as explorers, so Titan Settlers would give you a free ride to the

-vicinity of X!_

-

-"I broke into your room last night, Fayette, and made a copy of the

-map."

-

-_And you left it wide open for me, so I could put my Unterzuyder brains

-to work deciphering it!_

-

-"And now that I've deciphered the map--"

-

-That shocked her. "You _did_? But Daddy figured out it was made roughly

-50,000 years ago!"

-

-His heart fell to the bottom of his stomach. The Beechers hadn't got

-over that stumbling block either. He'd made a mistake in trying to pump

-her. He smiled feebly. But salvage _something_ out of it!

-

-"50,000 years," he said druggedly, "seems to be correct--"

-

-She was on her feet, laughing half hysterically. "You're trying to say

-the Unterzuyders invented a time-machine? That they aren't hibernating

-at all? After all the trouble we've gone to--" She giggled. "That's

-rich, Ralph--"

-

-Female instability. He held her tightly. A lie, a good solid lie. His

-heart raced. Bigger Bailes. "Of course not, dear. The whole idea of a

-time-machine is fantasy--"

-

-_Is it?_

-

-"--and it'll make you feel better to know the map is purely

-contemporary. You noticed the ship changed course? Well, dear, we are

-headed toward X!"

-

-She pushed away, her eyes amazed.

-

-"And," he added happily, "you will also be glad to know that you and

-I and your father are going to collect the reward for finding the

-hibernaculum!"

-

-"_Really_, Ralph? That was your intention all along? You weren't going

-to _free_ them? Oh, I was hoping so hard you were going only after the

-reward--"

-

-She switched her glance over his shoulder. Pity wrenched her face.

-

-Something hit Ralph Unterzuyder hard on the back of the head. He fell

-straight down ten thousand miles, and lay there for quite a while

-studying patterns of light that squirmed in his head.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-Captain Foshag was dragging him to a chair. His tufted eyebrows came

-close. He put a slopping cloth on Unterzuyder's forehead.

-

-He said, "For the time, you're a prisoner in this cabin. I trust the

-experience will teach you some truths. Wickedness secretes various

-poisons in the body, particularly the heart and the liver. Change your

-ways, and you may indeed live a long life!"

-

-The door burst open and Beecher lunged in. His shrewd eyes rested on

-Unterzuyder.

-

-"Sorry I had to bop you, Unterzuyder," he said in clipped accents. "But

-it was the best way to get you out of the picture and keep you from

-talking to Bigger Bailes. You might have messed up the works. As it

-was, we told him the truth."

-

-"The truth?"

-

-"Certainly. You admitted it to Fayette. That you'd figured out the

-orbit and present position of X. He got the course from Foshag and made

-us turn around toward Titan again. Then he took off for X. So we're

-whipped. But at least it kept us from being looted."

-

-Unterzuyder ripped the wet cloth from his head and threw it somewhere.

-He laughed. He weaved about the room, holding his head and hooting,

-while Foshag and Beecher looked on with open mouths. Then Foshag forced

-him into a chair.

-

-"Out of his head! Mr. Unterzuyder, please be quiet. That's better.

-There, there! Now we're going to leave you here for your own

-protection, Mr. Unterzuyder. The settlers are somewhat provoked. Do you

-agree?"

-

-Unterzuyder grinned widely up at him.

-

-"I'm sick," he groaned. "Tell Fayette I need her."

-

-_There's still X to find._

-

-An idea had come to him.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-He was in bed, the white cloth on his forehead, when Fayette walked in.

-She looked at him without sympathy. Tentatively, she sat on the edge of

-the bed, curling one knee under another.

-

-"I'm sorry if you think I played Delilah, Ralph--" she began.

-

-He patted her knee delicately. "There, there," he soothed. "None of

-that matters. Actually, we're two of a kind. Not that we're naturally

-treacherous, but that we are indirect, the most dangerous weapon in the

-world. I wanted to discuss our plans. You see, marriage is a--"

-

-She gripped his wrist, hard, to make him stop talking.

-

-She said through her teeth, "After this, nothing but the truth!"

-

-Inwardly he groaned.

-

-She went on with determination. "I _do_ love you. I _do_ want to marry

-you. And settle on Titan. The important thing is, do _you_ love me

-and really want to marry me? Are you going to be honest with me about

-things that concern only us? Of course, I don't mind if you're tricky

-with other people. That's life."

-

-_Well, why not?_

-

-Unfortunately, he would be unable to use her anymore for purposes of

-finding X. But apparently, he _was_ in love with her.

-

-He held her warm hands. "We'll get married and live on Titan," he said.

-

-She leaned over and kissed him until he thought he'd be forced down

-through the bed.

-

-He added, "But first I've got to get back in the good graces of the

-settlers." When she smiled incredulously, he said with confidence, "It

-should be easy."

-

-And besides, it was necessary.

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-As soon as Fayette left, he leaped out of bed and grabbed an

-encyclopaedia out of the bookcase. He looked up _Unterzuyder_, tracing

-down until he found the expected paragraph:

-

-_The fabulous cartels of the Unterzuyders were built up through their

-amazing instinct on the stock market. When the market was bullish,

-they seemed to know when the crest was reached. Selling short in heavy

-amount at this point, they reaped millions in profit as the market

-fell, then caught the market again on the upswing. Invariably, the

-bulls were caught short by the Unterzuyder bears. The Unterzuyders

-seemed to draw some special inspiration from one famous interpretation

-of their name, i. e._, undersiders, _those who work from the

-underside_....

-

-Unterzuyder sent the book scurrying into a corner. His hunch had been

-right. But now was not the time to work out the rest of the puzzle. He

-dressed quickly.

-

-When he walked into the dining room, where dinner was in progress, he

-was wearing the white bandage pinned around his forehead. He was also

-limping very slightly. Sympathy was nonetheless lacking. Complete quiet

-reigned in the dining room. The settlers kept their faces turned away,

-or looked fixedly at their plates.

-

-Fayette's expression alone showed sympathy. He knew his own face was

-fiery red.

-

-Nonetheless, he told the settlers everything he thought necessary.

-(They knew it anyway.) He apologized. He pointed out deviously that,

-after all, they _were_ on the way to a new world. That much he had done

-for them.

-

-"What you do not realize is that it was I, your leader, who diverted

-Bigger Bailes from looting the ship.

-

-"Quite deliberately, I built up the feeling that the new course was the

-course to X, the hibernaculum of my criminal ancestors. All of you were

-convinced. Therefore Bailes became convinced.

-

-"Had he known the Unterzuyder map was a fake, he would have taken it

-out on you by looting the ship. I sent him off on a wild goose chase!"

-

-Some of the settlers were looking at him with cautious interest.

-Beecher rose at this point.

-

-"I can say something in favor of Mr. Unterzuyder," he said. "His

-intentions were good. Mr. Unterzuyder was only after the reward money.

-He did _not_ intend to free the Unterzuyders, even though he is an

-Unterzuyder himself. And half of the reward money was to go into the

-treasury of Titan Settlers!"

-

-Unterzuyder looked pop-eyed at Beecher. But now the settlers were

-frankly staring at him. After a moment, they began eating again. In

-several minutes more, the hall was full of chatter again.

-

-After the most uncomfortable meal of his life, Unterzuyder headed for

-the door. Beecher caught up with him, grinning companionably.

-

-"We did a good job, mister," he said. "I had my own reasons for backing

-you up. This thing'll blow over. Then I've got some ideas. You and I

-are sharpies, Unterzuyder. We could set up in business on Titan and

-build up one of the biggest fortunes in the System, eventually. What do

-you say?"

-

-Unterzuyder smiled wanly and said he would think it over. Then he went

-to his cabin. In two hours, he had plotted X's location to the dot.

-

-Then he leaned back, nibbling nervously at the pencil eraser.

-

-In five days, with good fortune, the infamous Unterzuyders would be

-awake and free....

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-It took him two days of cautious footwork before the settlers

-completely dropped their hostility toward him. Then one evening he told

-them simply that they still had Bigger Bailes to worry about.

-

-"When he discovers he's been fooled, it's possible he might head for

-Titan and try to loot the settlement. We have to be ready. For several

-weeks we'll have to be on guard. The space ship will be camouflaged.

-For awhile we'll suspend building operations.

-

-"We'll be ready for offense and defense. We have three life boats which

-are maneuverable in empty space or in an atmosphere. These life boats

-must be equipped with food, with water, with weapons. I'm calling for

-volunteers to help me with that job."

-

-It was a rude shock to Unterzuyder when Fayette became the first

-volunteer.

-

-By the fourth day, the life boats were deadly offensive craft.

-

-Unterzuyder paid particular attention to one of the life boats himself.

-Quite accidentally, it became loaded down with extra weapons and

-supplies.

-

-Only one thing bothered him. Fayette was underfoot all the time.

-

-As the time of leaving approached, his nerves began to get the better

-of him. The time, however, _did_ come. At 22:04 on the fifth day, in

-the middle of the sleeping period, he dialed open the airlock door to

-the blister in which the stout little life boat nestled. He closed it

-behind him, turned around. Fayette was standing at the hatch of the

-little ship, slickly dressed in shiny boots, smart beige jodphurs, and

-a blouse open at the throat.

-

-She was holding her pet neutron gun with the snout pointed toward him.

-She was smiling confidently.

-

-"Ralph," she said, "in my hand I hold a weapon. It is not indirect.

-It is not subtle. It does not practice deceit. It does not give

-half-answers. It says 'yes,' and it says 'no'. That's all it says.

-

-"It also _gets_ yes and no answers.

-

-"But don't be afraid of me, Ralph. I'm here to help you!"

-

-He found his voice. "Help me? I need no help! I work alone!"

-

-"Nobody works alone, Ralph. Ask Captain Foshag. Most people run on

-compulsive commands given them by people who might even be dead.

-Parents mostly. Positive suggestion. The mind works that way.

-

-"Sometimes people are made to feel they're unhealthy, only they aren't

-really. Or they're told their eyes are bad. Or that they're superior to

-other people.

-

-"It's just as if--" she frowned hard as if looking for an example "--as

-if _your_ parents were sitting inside that smart blonde head of yours,

-Ralph, and telling you to free the Unterzuyders from their sleep. It's

-something you feel you _have_ to do.

-

-"But you _don't_ have to, Ralph. I'm here to help you."

-

-He stared at her, stunned.

-

-He drew himself up arrogantly. "Put down that gun, Fayette."

-

-If anything, she held the gun more firmly, and moved it three inches

-toward him.

-

-"Don't mistake me, Ralph," she said, her eyes cold. "This is a yes and

-no game. No maybes or ifs. If you say yes when the gun says no, that's

-too bad. If you say no when the gun wants yes, _that's_ too bad. You

-see how straightforward the three of us are?

-

-"But I and my pet neutron gun will give you time to think.

-

-"Tell me how you found X."

-

-       *       *       *       *       *

-

-He slumped weakly against the bulkhead, wiping at his forehead with the

-back of a shaking hand.

-

-"There were enough clues," he said hoarsely.

-

-And there had been, at that. _Tertium Organum_, A Key To The Enigmas Of

-The World, _was_ a key. Its author, Ouspensky, looked at the universe

-from a _different_ viewpoint.

-

-The small _u_ in unterzuyder meant that it was to be taken as a common

-noun.

-

-And certainly the conclusion that the map was made 50,000 years ago was

-itself an obvious clue!

-

-"We made our calculations on the assumption that the map had been made

-looking at the Solar System from the north--from the star Polaris,

-that is. It hadn't been. My ancestors drew the map from the unorthodox

-reference point of the Southern Cross.

-

-"From the underside. I turned the negative upside down and made a new

-map. Then I got right answers."

-

-"Very good," said Fayette. "The tricky Unterzuyders did live up to

-their name. _Didn't_ they, Ralph?"

-

-"Yes," he said shakily.

-

-The gun wavered. Fayette was blinking. "Ralph, do you love me?"

-

-"Yes...."

-

-"Are you being truthful? Will you always tell me the truth, the whole

-truth?"

-

-"Yes...."

-

-"That's a good boy. Please keep on giving my pet the right answers.

-Ralph, don't you know that if you freed the Unterzuyders I couldn't

-ever look at you again?"

-

-There were angry tears in her eyes. Unterzuyder suddenly remembered the

-time at the dance, when he had wiped away her tears. He should wipe

-them away now. He was weakening. He was an Unterzuyder. He should be

-strong. There was his duty....

-

-"Fayette," he said hoarsely.

-

-"Stand back." Her chin came up. "Answer the question! Yes or no."

-

-"Yes."

-

-"Do you want to marry me?"

-

-"Yes, Fayette."

-

-Her mouth opened and closed. Suddenly her shoulders heaved and she

-shook her head blindly. The gun dropped to her side. "Oh, Ralph. I

-can't do it. I was going to ask you if you still wanted to go ahead

-with it. But I can't. I can't force you. You'll have to make up your

-own mind!" She turned away, hiding her face with one arm. Instantly, he

-leaped for her, tearing the gun from her hand.

-

-He looked at it where it lay black and ugly in his hands. He was seeing

-it very well, with his excellent Unterzuyder eyes. It slipped from his

-hand and fell to the floor. He let it lie, and took Fayette into his

-arms.

-

-*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK X MARKS THE ASTEROID ***

-

-Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will

-be renamed.

-

-Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright

-law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,

-so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the

-United States without permission and without paying copyright

-royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part

-of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project

-Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm

-concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,

-and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following

-the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use

-of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for

-copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very

-easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation

-of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project

-Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may

-do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected

-by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark

-license, especially commercial redistribution.

-

-START: FULL LICENSE

-

-THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE

-PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

-

-To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free

-distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work

-(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project

-Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full

-Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at

-www.gutenberg.org/license.

-

-Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project

-Gutenberg-tm electronic works

-

-1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm

-electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to

-and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property

-(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all

-the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or

-destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your

-possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a

-Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound

-by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the

-person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph

-1.E.8.

-

-1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be

-used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who

-agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few

-things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works

-even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See

-paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project

-Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this

-agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm

-electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.

-

-1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the

-Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection

-of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual

-works in the collection are in the public domain in the United

-States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the

-United States and you are located in the United States, we do not

-claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,

-displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as

-all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope

-that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting

-free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm

-works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the

-Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily

-comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the

-same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when

-you share it without charge with others.

-

-1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern

-what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are

-in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,

-check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this

-agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,

-distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any

-other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no

-representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any

-country other than the United States.

-

-1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:

-

-1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other

-immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear

-prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work

-on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the

-phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed,

-performed, viewed, copied or distributed:

-

-  This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and

-  most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no

-  restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it

-  under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this

-  eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the

-  United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where

-  you are located before using this eBook.

-

-1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is

-derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not

-contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the

-copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in

-the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are

-redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project

-Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply

-either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or

-obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm

-trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

-

-1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted

-with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution

-must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any

-additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms

-will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works

-posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the

-beginning of this work.

-

-1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm

-License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this

-work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.

-

-1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this

-electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without

-prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with

-active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project

-Gutenberg-tm License.

-

-1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,

-compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including

-any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access

-to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format

-other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official

-version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm website

-(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense

-to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means

-of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain

-Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the

-full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.

-

-1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,

-performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works

-unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

-

-1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing

-access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works

-provided that:

-

-* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from

-  the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method

-  you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed

-  to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has

-  agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project

-  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid

-  within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are

-  legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty

-  payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project

-  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in

-  Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg

-  Literary Archive Foundation."

-

-* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies

-  you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he

-  does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm

-  License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all

-  copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue

-  all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm

-  works.

-

-* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of

-  any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the

-  electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of

-  receipt of the work.

-

-* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free

-  distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.

-

-1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project

-Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than

-are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing

-from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of

-the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the Foundation as set

-forth in Section 3 below.

-

-1.F.

-

-1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable

-effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread

-works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project

-Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm

-electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may

-contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate

-or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other

-intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or

-other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or

-cannot be read by your equipment.

-

-1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right

-of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project

-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project

-Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project

-Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all

-liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal

-fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT

-LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE

-PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE

-TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE

-LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR

-INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH

-DAMAGE.

-

-1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a

-defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can

-receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a

-written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you

-received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium

-with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you

-with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in

-lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person

-or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second

-opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If

-the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing

-without further opportunities to fix the problem.

-

-1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth

-in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO

-OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT

-LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

-

-1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied

-warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of

-damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement

-violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the

-agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or

-limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or

-unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the

-remaining provisions.

-

-1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the

-trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone

-providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in

-accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the

-production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm

-electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,

-including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of

-the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this

-or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or

-additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any

-Defect you cause.

-

-Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm

-

-Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of

-electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of

-computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It

-exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations

-from people in all walks of life.

-

-Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the

-assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's

-goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will

-remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project

-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure

-and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future

-generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary

-Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see

-Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at

-www.gutenberg.org

-

-Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary

-Archive Foundation

-

-The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit

-501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the

-state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal

-Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification

-number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary

-Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by

-U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.

-

-The Foundation's business office is located at 809 North 1500 West,

-Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up

-to date contact information can be found at the Foundation's website

-and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact

-

-Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg

-Literary Archive Foundation

-

-Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without

-widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of

-increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be

-freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest

-array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations

-($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt

-status with the IRS.

-

-The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating

-charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United

-States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a

-considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up

-with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations

-where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND

-DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular

-state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate

-

-While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we

-have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition

-against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who

-approach us with offers to donate.

-

-International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make

-any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from

-outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.

-

-Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation

-methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other

-ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To

-donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate

-

-Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works

-

-Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project

-Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be

-freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and

-distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of

-volunteer support.

-

-Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed

-editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in

-the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not

-necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper

-edition.

-

-Most people start at our website which has the main PG search

-facility: www.gutenberg.org

-

-This website includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,

-including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary

-Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to

-subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.

+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 66211 ***
+
+X MARKS THE ASTEROID
+
+By Ross Rocklynne
+
+Deep in space Ralph's ancestors lay in suspended
+animation--a price on their heads. They left him a
+map and a problem: awaken them--or collect the reward!...
+
+[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
+Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy
+January 1954
+Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
+the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
+
+
+The Unterzuyder map was out of hiding. Relayed on a grapevine that
+spanned the planets, the news caught on big in Marsport.
+
+Bigger Bailes sat at a beer-bottle-colored glass desk in his underworld
+retreat, announcing his intent to claim the reward money that for
+eighty-five years had been piling up at compound interest in the
+Terra-First National Bank of New York.
+
+"Ralph Unterzuyder is here in Marsport," he stated. "Like all
+Unterzuyders, he's clever and he's dangerous and he's shifty. He'll
+travel the crookedest course you ever saw. At the moment, he's got his
+identity pretty well covered up under the name of Carruthers Straley.
+In the last three weeks he's organized a band of settlers from
+Satterfield City who call themselves Titan Settlers, Ltd.
+
+"Not that I'm fooled! I'm not saying the Unterzuyder hibernaculum is
+on Titan. I'm not even saying Unterzuyder has the map. But I'm willing
+to bet he's got a pretty good idea where the map is. I'm also willing
+to bet that his father died without leaving him a cent, and that he
+organized Titan Settlers, Ltd., just to get himself a free ride out
+Saturn-way. He's capable of that kind of reasoning."
+
+Bigger Bailes smiled rosily and reached for his hat. One of his men
+held the door open for him.
+
+"Right now, I'm on my way to see Carruthers Straley. Maybe he will cut
+in with me. If not--" he thoughtfully rubbed at the fat of his big jaw
+"--if not, I'll help him hang himself."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Ralph Unterzuyder, fourth generation descendant of the infamous
+Unterzuyders, emerged testily from the Glass & Sand Bldg. where he
+had just set up a law office under the name of Carruthers Straley. No
+sooner had he set foot to the glass sidewalk than he was aware a big,
+smiling man had fallen into step beside him. He backed up against the
+wall of the building, his eyes wide and cautious behind dark glasses.
+
+"What do you want?" he snapped.
+
+Bigger Bailes smiled, introduced himself. Unterzuyder looked around as
+if ready to make a break for it. Bailes stood in front of him. He shook
+his head.
+
+"I'm not going to hurt you, Mr. Unterzuyder."
+
+At mention of the name, Unterzuyder smiled arrogantly.
+
+"Really, does one have no privacy? But perhaps one of your caliber is
+well acquainted with the advantages of using an alias!"
+
+"There are advantages," Bigger nodded. "Your advantage lies in heading
+a group of settlers who don't know you're using them to help you find
+the asteroid where your ancestors have been sleeping for the past
+eighty-odd years."
+
+Unterzuyder's cane whipped around nervously. "I know nothing about a
+map!"
+
+Bigger's jowls quivered with mirth. "Seven weeks ago," he pointed out,
+"your father died. He told you the map was hidden in an old book called
+_Tertium Organum_, A Key To The Enigmas Of The World. By somebody named
+Ouspensky."
+
+Unterzuyder's eyes moved desperately to the street, down which a single
+gyromobile moved.
+
+"I have an appointment," he said stiffly. "Now if you will permit me to
+be on my way before they turn the rain-makers on--"
+
+"It won't rain for ten minutes. Better let me finish--if you don't want
+your precious settlers to know who you really are!
+
+"As soon as your aunt heard about your father's death, she put the
+old Unterzuyder house up for auction to pay your father's creditors.
+The furniture went mostly to junk-dealers, the rest to museums. All
+the books, some ten thousand of them, were bought by a big New York
+used-book company, Frangy & Sons, Ltd.
+
+"Half of these books, the ones whose titles all began with the letters
+of the alphabet up through 'M', were kept in their New York branch. The
+remainder were sent to open a book store in Marsport. By the time you
+got to Marsport from Earth, the book was reported already sold--to a
+person unknown. That's all true, _isn't_ it?
+
+"After having failed to find the map, Mr. Unterzuyder, you then sent
+the story to a newspaper--anonymously."
+
+"I did?" Unterzuyder looked arrogantly at Bailes.
+
+"Yes." Bigger's eyes narrowed. "Why?"
+
+Unterzuyder surged angrily away from the wall. "I am not interested in
+your questions. I have my chosen mission in life. It is not the making
+of money!"
+
+He brandished his cane. "I warn you, Mr. Bailes," he cried, "I am a
+nervous man. If I am not permitted to leave--"
+
+Bigger spread his hands, astonished. "Don't think for a minute I'm
+keeping you. The only suggestion I wanted to make was that you and I
+could work together."
+
+Unterzuyder took off his glasses. There were red marks around his eyes
+where the glasses had taken hold. He had inherited the famous thin
+nose and receding chin of the Unterzuyders. His pale thin lips worked
+nervously.
+
+"I work alone, Mr. Bailes," he said haughtily. "And I work best when
+such as you try to set your pitiful little traps! Threaten me as you
+will, nothing can keep me from my purpose. And now good-day."
+
+Bigger's voice was filled with disgust. "Your purpose being, of course,
+to find asteroid X and free your ancestors so they can go to work on
+the Solar System again!"
+
+Unterzuyder glared, primly returned his glasses to his nose, and
+stalked off.
+
+"Scoundrel!" he muttered, putting his hand over his heart. He gasped.
+It was racing. And he was sweating. Trembling. His mother, the
+Unterzuyder matriarch, had been quite right. He should take care of his
+health.
+
+By the time he caught a one-wheeled gyromobile that came bowling down
+the glass street, he was feeling much better.
+
+"Take me to the Hotel de Mars," he told the driver. He leaned back
+comfortably, gloved hands resting on the head of his cane while he
+looked around him. A strange, glass-domed city, set in the heart of
+Mars' desert wastelands. A thriving city, with low buildings touching
+the glass roof of the dome.
+
+The rain-maker went on, the first drops splattering down from the
+overhead sprinkler system. Unterzuyder cringed.
+
+"Driver, driver!" he cried, rapping smartly with his cane. "Do you want
+me to catch my death?"
+
+The driver hurriedly caused the separate halves of the glassteel cupola
+to fold over the car. Unterzuyder settled back injuredly.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At the registration desk of the Hotel de Mars, he asked for, and was
+shown to the room of, Mr. Nathaniel and Miss Fayette Beecher. The door
+was thrown open by a tanned blonde girl in smart gray jodhpurs and
+slick boots.
+
+Her face at first registered a nervousness. Then it smoothed.
+
+"Oh!" she sang out, blue eyes widening and taking him in from head to
+toe. "You must be Mr. Straley." She cocked her lively face cutely to
+one side. "_Are_ you?"
+
+Unterzuyder's heart banged. He bit his lip. This was exactly the kind
+of girl his dead mother warned him to stay away from. Coquettish. Sexy.
+Treacherous, like most females. And he had lately noticed, to his
+dismay, that he, an Unterzuyder, was becoming far too susceptible to
+such unhealthy influences.
+
+"I am Mr. Straley," he said coldly. "Carruthers Straley, founder of
+Titan Settlers, Ltd. Shall I come in?"
+
+"Please _do_. For a moment, I lost my wits."
+
+She's making a play for me, like all females, he thought.
+Discouragedly, Unterzuyder went in. He sat down on a sponge-plastic
+chair, resting his gloved hands on his cane and looking upon the girl
+sternly.
+
+"Daddy!" she sang out. "Mr. Straley is here!"
+
+A man with a half-bald head and a deep tan lunged into the room
+carrying a heavy rocket-gun. His grin was wide, his voice reedy and
+enthusiastic. He was happy to know Mr. Straley. He laid the gun
+tenderly on the floor. Unterzuyder looked at it distrustfully.
+
+Beecher's reedy laugh sounded. "It's not cocked," he explained. "You
+caught me right in the middle of a clean-and-polish job. That ol' gun
+o' mine's been everywhere, mister. Most of the Moons of Jupiter, out
+on the deserts--even Africa. Yessir, our exploring expeditions have
+taken us into every corner of the Solar System that's available."
+
+The girl whipped open a drawer in the bottom of a boxy chair made of
+crystal glassteel. "And here's _my_ pet!" She reached in to pull out
+a long-snouted neutron gun with a triple trigger. Unterzuyder's heart
+banged for the third time in an hour. In the drawer was one other
+object: _Tertium Organum_, A Key To The Enigmas Of The World.
+
+An old book. A musty book. The book from his beloved dead father's
+library. The book that held the Unterzuyder map.
+
+His breath hissed. Beecher leaned solicitously forward. "Anything
+wrong, Mr. Straley?"
+
+"Oh, no, nothing," said Unterzuyder, pain wrenching his face. "But I'm
+not a healthy man. My heart--"
+
+"Oh, what a shame." Fayette leaned over him, dizzying him with her
+perfume. She put her warm little hand on his forehead. She held his
+wrist to feel his pulse. She shook her blonde curls vigorously. "Nope.
+No fever. The pulse _did_ seem to race a little when I held your hand.
+Outside of that--" She surveyed him judicially. "I'll bet you're as
+healthy as a Venusian peat-dog!"
+
+"Oh, come now," protested Beecher. "If the man says he's got a
+galloping heart, that's what he's got. Think of the courage, the
+idealism, the sheer fortitude of this man, who has gathered together a
+group of settlers to brave the dangers of a jungle-world like Titan--a
+planet no one has ever attempted to colonize! I personally _hand_ it to
+the man!"
+
+There was a fawning admiration on his unshaven, grinning face.
+
+Unterzuyder settled back in his chair, feeling put upon.
+
+"I'm afraid of guns," he told Fayette petulantly. "If you'd please put
+it away--Besides--" He drew a clipping from his bill-fold. "--I am
+already convinced of your prowess as explorers."
+
+The headlines on the clipping read:
+
+                         EXPLORERS RETURN FROM
+                          GANYMEDE ICE TUNDRA
+                          Father and daughter
+                           make unique team
+
+"It says quite a bit about the expeditions you two have headed.
+Needless to say, I'm impressed! I am here, of course, to make you a
+proposition."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He explained his purpose at some length. For several weeks he had been
+engaged on a project dear to his heart. He believed in the future of
+the human race. He wanted to spread mankind's dominion even beyond the
+Moons of Jupiter. Titan had been viewed by only two men, both of whom
+stated it was livable. It had soil. It had vegetation. Also, it had
+dangerous animal life.
+
+"That's for us!" said Fayette stoutly. She accidentally pointed the
+neutron gun at Unterzuyder. She was squirming around on her chair with
+repressed vitality. Her eyes melted on him. He wished he could get over
+the feeling that she was laying it on too thick. That perfume. He must
+not allow himself to be affected.
+
+He cringed from the gun. She hastily put it on the floor. He wondered
+how accidental it might have been. Probably these cheap opportunists
+were perfectly capable of killing.
+
+He would have to watch his step. They had the map, all right. The
+bookseller's description of Fayette had been quite correct and helpful.
+
+Fortunately, the bookseller had been willing to accept a bribe not to
+give anybody else the information.
+
+He spoke again.
+
+"When I received your viso-call, Miss Beecher, I at once felt that
+Titan Settlers could work with you. I seriously discussed with them
+the possibility of giving you and your father titular command of the
+expedition."
+
+"Uh--" said Fayette. "You've already been capitalized?"
+
+Unterzuyder coughed delicately. "My intrepid settlers are composed
+of young husbands and wives and their children. I was able to sell
+them--that is--the magic allure of a new world was really all that
+was necessary to convince them that Titan is where their destiny lay.
+They sold all their belongings, and--ah--invested the funds with me as
+Treasurer of the organization."
+
+Beecher smacked his hands together enthusiastically.
+
+"Fine, fine! There's nothing the daughter and I like better than to
+push on into a new frontier. Mr. Straley, for twenty thousand credits
+we're bought!"
+
+Unterzuyder sat bolt upright. "Ten thousand credits," he said severely,
+"is the top amount we can offer. That is final. With one thousand
+credits in advance!"
+
+He whipped out a check book. He adjusted his glasses. Primly, he wrote
+a check and extended it with a jabbing motion, holding it for perhaps
+thirty seconds before Beecher's crestfallen face turned toward his
+daughter. Fayette was looking with intense interest at the check.
+
+"Why not? Mr. Straley, like you, we're idealists. Money means hardly
+anything. I think you've made a deal!"
+
+Beecher stowed the check in his wallet with satisfaction. "Now we'll
+get busy. Of course, we'll have to have a drawing account. We'll have
+to discuss details, such as the number of settlers to be transported
+so I can buy or charter the proper type of space ship. There's the
+matter of building supplies to be bought--grain seeds--food--a thousand
+details which you can leave entirely in our hands, Mr. Straley!
+
+"And while we're at it, I'd like to shake your hand! It's very few
+people who'd endanger their own lives to further the progress of
+mankind!"
+
+The experience left Unterzuyder weak. He looked appealingly at Fayette.
+"I wonder if a glass of water--" he said feebly.
+
+Hurriedly she disappeared to the apartment kitchen. Unterzuyder slumped
+lower in the seat, breathing hard.
+
+"Maybe," he told Beecher helplessly, "a shot of whiskey would do the
+trick better."
+
+"Sure thing!" Beecher went after his daughter. As soon as they were
+both out of the room, Unterzuyder got up and pulled open the drawer
+containing _Tertium Organum_, A Key To The Enigmas Of The World.
+Quickly he unfolded the chart in the back of the book. The map should
+be there.
+
+It wasn't.
+
+He slapped the drawer shut, sank feebly back to his seat. The Beechers
+were gone an inordinately long time. He thought he heard them
+whispering in the kitchen. Then Beecher lunged back into the room
+bearing a jigger of no doubt cheap rye. Unterzuyder gulped it down and
+put the glass to one side.
+
+Fayette was admiring. "For a man in poor health," she exclaimed, "you
+take it without a whimper--or a chaser!"
+
+"Eh?" Unterzuyder blinked, then drew himself up stiffly. "Whiskey is
+the only medicine my doctor permits. And now, let's get down to the
+matter of the contract!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+One month later.
+
+Ralph Unterzuyder was furious. He stalked the darkened decks of the
+trembling space ship _Ares_--a slick hundred-tonner with sixty square
+feet of firing surface--and reflected that the Beechers were making a
+worse sucker out of him than he'd expected them to.
+
+First, they were a pair of fakers. That much had been obvious from the
+start, with that phony newspaper write-up, all that bragging about
+their knowledge of fire-arms when they didn't even know enough to keep
+a weapon pointed toward the floor. Well, he'd expected that much. But
+to discover they did not even have _basic_ knowledge of how to outfit
+an expedition!
+
+They had actually begun ordering _lumber_ for building, until he
+pointed out the climate of Titan might be kinder to prefabricated
+glassteel sections.
+
+They had actually paid out money for seeds, bulbs, and saplings until
+he showed that all farming on Titan must for the present be on an
+experimental or at best highly speculative basis.
+
+Not only that, they had attempted to charter a ship twice as big
+as needed, one that used large quantities of chemical fuels. That
+ridiculous error had been amended with a smaller ship sporting
+atomic gas-thrust. As for the captain and crew, they had been hired
+by Unterzuyder himself--and, by means of the secret passage of one
+thousand credits from Titan Settlers' funds to Captain Foshag, the
+captain and crew were bought.
+
+Unterzuyder balanced himself angrily down a companionway. As he
+passed a hanging ventilator, the drum-beat and skittering rhythm of
+a jury-rigged orchestra echoed up from the ballroom. A dance was in
+progress. Unterzuyder smiled sentimentally. Nothing like giving the
+settlers a run for their money.
+
+Of course, he reflected dourly, Fayette Beecher had got the best of
+him in the matter of using the drawing account. Unterzuyder scowled.
+What had got into him? Somehow, Fayette's roving blue eyes and fiery
+touch did their work on him. Next thing he knew, he was in duress,
+being dragged on the arm of that fluffy creature from one dress shop to
+another.
+
+An expense account to buy swirling party dresses?--with a smidgin here
+and there for fancy explorers' outfits? The memory of his folly made
+Unterzuyder squirm.
+
+He sighed heavily as he came to C deck. Anyway, by his own cleverness,
+he had a ship, he had the Beechers--who had the map!
+
+And the hibernaculum asteroid, where his dozen infamous ancestors were
+sleeping away the decades under the influence of a potent, forbidden
+drug called somnolene, was somewhere out near Titan. Or _had been_.
+
+That was the one thing he remembered when, as a child, his father
+showed him the legendary map. At least he was headed for the area where
+the asteroid _might be_.
+
+And so might, he reflected glumly, that arrogant, impossible Bigger
+Bailes!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Beecher's double-state-room was on C deck. Just as he turned an L
+in the corridor, he ran head-on into a gaily running figure clad in a
+fluffy party dress.
+
+For a moment they struggled in an attempt to regain their balance,
+and when Unterzuyder came out of it he was holding Fayette Beecher
+tightly, and he was kissing her warm little face. She responded just as
+energetically. And suddenly he woke up to the horror of the role he had
+assumed.
+
+He shoved her away. She stumbled backward and there was a glassy
+tinkling sound.
+
+"Ooh, your glasses!" cried Fayette, making a grab for them. He grabbed,
+too, suddenly convinced he had gone blind. "They're broken, Ralph,
+honey!" she said. "You look so much better without them." She flung her
+arms around him again, pressing him back to the wall. Her lips drooped
+disappointedly.
+
+"I--I'm fond of you," she said unhappily. "But you're so darned
+peculiar. You fell all over yourself kissing me. Now you're backing
+off. What's wrong?"
+
+Unterzuyder was scared. It came as a shock to him that the extreme
+emergency of the situation had given him, by some hypnotic process,
+better vision than he'd ever had. In spite of the darkness of the hall,
+he could see that Fayette was ravishing. She could make a strong man
+weak. Well, he would not give her that opportunity.
+
+Besides, something she'd said just now, something he couldn't put his
+finger on, had subconsciously frightened him. What?
+
+These treacherous Beechers!
+
+Maybe she was using her indomitable weapon to win him over. To what?
+
+Perhaps to cut him in on the map. X marks the spot, indeed! X was a
+moving asteroid. It had been moving for some eighty-odd years since the
+map was made. To find its present location was a problem in celestial
+mechanics. The map would have to be deciphered. Not only that, the
+original maker of the map, being an Unterzuyder, had undoubtedly
+confused the issue by making the job hard even for a mathematician.
+
+Naturally, the Beechers hadn't dared take the map to anybody for
+deciphering. To do so, might have brought the whole criminal element
+in the Solar System after them. That of course, was a little thing
+Unterzuyder himself had arranged--when he anonymously gave the details
+of the story to the press.
+
+The Beechers had been boxed in.
+
+Now, in desperation, the Beechers probably figured that if Fayette
+could make Carruthers Straley fall in love with her, that he, being a
+lawyer, might have a devious enough mind to think like an Unterzuyder
+and decipher the map! _And_ not betray them.
+
+They did not understand that Ralph Unterzuyder, alias Carruthers
+Straley, worked alone.
+
+They would find it out. And so would Bigger Bailes.
+
+He answered her direct question stiffly. "I shall continue to back
+off, Fayette. Love is an emotion which can be defined in various
+unflattering terms. I would not care to tumble your romantic castles!
+My mother--"
+
+"Aha! Your mother!" She leaped upon the word with a knowing and very
+wide grin. Then she took advantage of his pinned position against the
+bulkhead to kiss him again, determinedly and hard. For a wild half of
+eternity, his senses were swept away on a skittering whirlwind. Then by
+main force he tore away and lunged down the corridor.
+
+"Mr. Straley!" There was a bubble of repressed laughter. "I was going
+to ask if you'd take me to the dance!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He did not answer. His flight was precipitous. It was not for several
+minutes that he realized the loss of his glasses had not impeded his
+vision. He leaned weakly against a bulkhead. Very early in life, his
+parents had insisted that the inherited weak eyes of the Unterzuyders
+be made normal with ocular aids. Indeed, powerful, dark eye-glasses had
+grown, over the generations, to be a symbol of Unterzuyder autocracy.
+
+His parents had been wrong.
+
+Perhaps they had been wrong in other things.
+
+He shuddered. Without his eye-glasses, he hardly felt himself to be an
+Unterzuyder.
+
+Slowly, memory of his original purpose in ordering Captain Foshag to
+throw a dance came back.
+
+In the ballroom, Beecher would be strutting to win the favor of
+somebody's wife.
+
+With a bit more success, Fayette would have a dozen young husbands
+circling her moth-like.
+
+Intrigue, thought Unterzuyder, and subtlety, is ever the adventurer's
+most potent weapon. The great general indirectly entices the foe away
+from his own most strongly held point!
+
+Several minutes later, he was fitting his pass-key into the door of the
+Beechers' stateroom. He closed the door, switched on the radi-lights.
+The efficiently furnished little rooms were brightly illumined.
+
+The map. Where? Start at the beginning. At first glance, _Tertium
+Organum_ was not in the bookcase. Then he reached in back of the row of
+lurid fiction titles and knew he had guessed correctly.
+
+A little too correctly!
+
+He felt one of the few cold chills of his life traveling on his spine.
+He opened the book and the map fell out. He sat down weakly. His
+fingers trembled as he smoothed out the heavy rag parchment.
+
+A map of the Solar System. He dizzied. X marks the asteroid. Just as he
+remembered seeing it that long ago day when his great father showed it
+to him.
+
+His father, that stern-faced giant in whom the valiant blood of the
+hibernating Unterzuyders flowed, had been most explicit. One of these
+years, the map would be given to Ralph. He would guard it with his
+blood. In the course of time, Ralph would give it to _his_ son.
+
+At long last, the hibernaculum would be opened, the dozen
+hibernating Unterzuyders would be brought to life with injections of
+anti-somnolene, and would once more take over their rightful place of
+dominance in the Solar System.
+
+The position they had been scourged from by a relentless political
+regime which had smashed the Unterzuyders' fabulous tri-planet cartels,
+leaving the remnants in the form of a thousand rigidly controlled small
+holding companies.
+
+The position they had been forced to flee from, leaving only their
+children--and a hidden map.
+
+Unterzuyder's fingers still shook. Sweat dribbled down his blonde
+hair-line. Something was wrong. Everything was wrong. The map itself
+was hideously out of scale.
+
+The traced orbits of the planets were circular, _not_ elliptical.
+
+And the map itself.
+
+_I should not have found it so easily_.
+
+Counter-intrigue?
+
+No time to lose.
+
+From his inside pocket, he took the flat little duplico-camera,
+adjusted the frame over the map. He flipped the shutter. Seconds later,
+the map was back exactly where he'd taken it from.
+
+There was only one sound in this quiet room, the tremor of the
+gas-thrust shoving the ship through dark void into the spaces beyond
+Jupiter. Suddenly, there was the scuffle of moving feet beyond the door.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Unterzuyder found himself in the position of a traveler in an alien
+city where savage little children had switched all the street signs.
+Nonetheless, he lunged for the door, threw off the lights in the
+stateroom, opened the door, closed it, stood with his back pressed
+against it.
+
+Hurrying footsteps. Unterzuyder was after the sound.
+
+The big, hurrying frame of Captain Foshag. Unterzuyder grabbed his
+arm, whipped him around. Foshag's hairy, dignified face was wrenched
+with astonishment.
+
+"Mr. Straley," he said uncertainly. His brow clouded. He looked at
+Unterzuyder's grip on his heavy arm and frowned with displeasure. He
+shook off the hand. "I'm not used to being manhandled, sir! You've
+perhaps imbibed too much at the party?" He was being sternly insulting.
+
+Unterzuyder crumbled. He could be wrong.
+
+"I--haven't been well. My heart--" He touched at his chest
+apologetically. It wasn't too far from the truth. Pains in his chest.
+His mother had always assured him the Unterzuyders were prone to heart
+trouble. Just as she'd got around to making him wear glasses. Terrible
+uncertainties were crowding him. He was surrounded by treachery. Had
+Foshag been shadowing him?
+
+Foshag's great frame rocked judicially on its toes.
+
+"If you truly have a bad heart," he said measuredly, "you'd have
+taken the long trail when the _Ares_ hit heaven. We humans often are
+plagued with strange influences. Words spoken to the unguarded mind of
+the child sometimes become fact to the grownup. I'd not worry about
+the heart. And now, the reason I am away from the turret. I've been
+looking for you."
+
+He cleared his throat. "There's a king-sized ship of the Silver type
+on our tail, Mr. Straley. I'm not the worrying kind, however. Worry is
+indeed the prime cause of most kidney troubles, and, besides, beclouds
+the mind when there's work to be done. Therefore, not until I observed
+that the pursuing craft was indeed pursuing--"
+
+"Come to the point!" Everything else was swept away. Unterzuyder was
+suddenly furious at this big, stupid, philosophizing blunderer. "You're
+trying to excuse yourself for not telling me right away. Let's get to
+the turret!"
+
+Unterzuyder went at full stride, his brain in high gear. They were
+being pursued. That arrogant Bigger Bailes, no doubt! So what? Add one
+more menace to those he was collecting. In fact, mess up the mess a
+little more.
+
+"Captain Foshag," he said, "you are a well-read man. Ever read
+Ouspensky?"
+
+Foshag nodded his square bearded chin. "A man of vast creative mental
+power, Mr. Straley. A man who seemed able to step off our three
+dimensions and look at the universe from a new viewpoint." Tentatively:
+"You have an interest in the classical philosophers, perhaps?"
+
+Unterzuyder muttered something garbled. He trotted ahead of Foshag up
+the ramp to the glassed-in control turret, went past several instrument
+men to the viewing disk assembly. Foshag hurriedly got the pursuing
+ship on the cross-hairs. It was a great globoid catching golden-green
+sun on one half, black interstellar shadow on the other.
+
+"Raise it on the beam!" Unterzuyder ordered.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Moments later, Ralph Unterzuyder was looking into the detested face of
+Bigger Bailes.
+
+"That's me," smiled Bigger, his rosy face creasing. "Bigger Bailes. And
+how are you, Mr. Ralph Unterzuyder?" His smile became even more rosy.
+
+Unterzuyder gulped. He was completely dismayed. Captain Foshag showed
+no reaction at the unmasking. Captain Foshag kept his face turned
+studiously away.
+
+Unterzuyder felt himself going into a spin.
+
+But he drew himself up and said haughtily, "Kindly keep your inside
+information to yourself, Mr. Bigger Bailes. I travel under the name of
+Carruthers Straley merely because there is an unsavory flavor to the
+name of Unterzuyder!
+
+"Now, why are you following us?"
+
+"Following you?" Bigger Bailes appeared injured. "I'm trying to catch
+up with you. I intend to come aboard--"
+
+"_You will not!_" Unterzuyder yelled the words so loud the crew members
+in back of him half-jumped from their charts.
+
+Bigger's image wavered on the screen as he leaned forward and settled
+back.
+
+"I didn't expect such a reaction, Mr.--Straley," he said. His little
+eyes, almost hidden by fat, were penetrating. "I'd almost think you
+were hiding something. Are you?"
+
+Foshag raised a commanding hand. "That'll be enough of that," he
+commanded. "We're a law-abiding ship. I myself am an honest man.
+Secrecy gives rise to certain nervous disorders which I avoid. If you
+wish to come aboard, perhaps you are taking advantage of some Space
+Article?"
+
+"Taking advantage? If you want to put it that way. Two of my men
+are down sick. The usual spastic seizures. We've run out of ATG.
+We're coming aboard your ship to get some. Article 10b of the Space
+Constitution gives us that right."
+
+Unterzuyder brushed Foshag aside.
+
+"I warn you, Mr. Bailes," he said thickly, "if you have any ulterior
+motive, such as looting this ship, we will put up a fight! Our
+settlers were chosen for their intrepid qualities. We have guns. We
+have bombs. We have a flare-cannon. You will not find us easy prey!"
+
+Bailes leaned back easily. "Relax, Unterzuyder. As far as guns
+go, we've got our share. And we have got a brace of flare-cannons
+embrasured into the bulkheads of the _Space-Queen_ ourselves, if you
+want to get tough."
+
+He spread his fat hands. "But who wants to get tough? See you
+gentlemen, aboard your ship, twenty-four hours from now." With which
+remark he broke contact.
+
+Unterzuyder was at Foshag instantly.
+
+"Not a word about my identity," he breathed. "After all, I did pay you
+a thousand credits!"
+
+"And for which I thanked you! Mr. Unterzuyder, I am not a secretive
+man. If asked a direct question, I seldom impair my health by lying.
+Now permit me to return to my duties."
+
+Fuming, Unterzuyder left the control turret, went straight to the
+ballroom. Here, without any hesitation whatever, he cut in on Fayette,
+taking her away from the handsomest husband in the lot. No word of
+apology.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He held her very close, very tight. He danced with a mathematical
+precision. Even the soul of the dance, he reflected grimly, derives
+from a mathematical formula. The dummy four-piece band haggered out
+its hag-strut very effectively. He was rewarded as Fayette lost her
+surprised stiffness, and began to melt into him in perfect rhythm to
+the tune. Her blonde head gradually nestled into his shoulder, her eyes
+closed, a small, sweet smile on her lips.
+
+At the first opportunity, he swung her without a break to a small
+observation lounge, and in the cold green glow of a million stars drew
+her to him, letting himself be stunned by the warmth of her and the
+drugging quality of her perfume. He kissed her. He was carried away
+into a land of intricate enchantment where Love is All, and the Girl in
+my Arms is You.
+
+She opened her eyes, looking at him dreamily. "I love you," she
+murmured.
+
+"I know," said Unterzuyder.
+
+"I don't know what your intentions are. I don't care what kind of a
+sneaky, underhanded person you are, I still love you."
+
+He kissed her again. She was crying. Unterzuyder took out his
+handkerchief and wiped away her tears. "Now don't worry, Fayette," he
+soothed. "Everything will turn out all right." He took her back to the
+dance floor. By luck he found the young husband she'd been dancing
+with. He gave her back.
+
+"Sorry!" he said. He gave Fayette a fleeting smile and hurriedly took
+off.
+
+He went to his cabin and feverishly got to work. Plug up the loopholes
+as you go along! A favorite axiom of the Unterzuyders. Now that Fayette
+was in love with him, he could draw on her for any emergency.
+
+Apparently the time was coming when he would need an ally.
+
+He ran the negative through the hypo, put it in the dryer and paced
+the floor. He rubbed at his lips with the back of his hand. He could
+still smell Fayette's perfume. He could still feel her bare warm back.
+Careful, careful. He went to a mirror and looked at his face. Weak. The
+glassless eyes red-rimmed. Thin nose and lips. His spirits dropped. How
+could Fayette be in love with him? Particularly when he was one of the
+outlawed Unterzuyders.
+
+The finished photograph went into the automatic pantograph. He blew
+it up six times onto a square of Mirac paper. He smoothed the new map
+onto the desk. Instantly he saw why at first the map had appeared so
+impossibly distorted. The circles did not indicate the orbits of the
+planets. They were merely a logarithmic indication of the scale of the
+map.
+
+Mercury, being some 43,000,000 miles from the Sun, was the basic unit.
+And that was necessary.
+
+The Solar System could not be drawn to scale unless the inner planets
+were crowded in fractionally close to the Sun.
+
+Here, the positions of the planets were indicated by dots whose
+map-distance from the Sun receded inward in logarithmic ratio to actual
+distance.
+
+Pluto, for instance, being one hundred times farther from the Sun than
+Mercury in real distance, appeared by the map to be only, roughly,
+twenty times as far.
+
+The position of the dot-planets on the map of course indicated the
+_exact_ date of the day when the map was drawn.
+
+The finely drawn X showed the position of the hibernaculum asteroid _on
+that day_.
+
+Since then, roughly eighty-two years ago, X had moved in its orbit.
+Where to?
+
+That was the problem.
+
+Unterzuyder sweated. It was said by the Unterzuyders, with possible
+justification, that only an Unterzuyder could think like an
+Unterzuyder. How often his father had told him that. But he was
+confused.
+
+Naturally. The map was meant to confuse.
+
+What were the figures at the bottom of the map?
+
+    s-1   .7452
+    c-1  -.202
+
+and
+
+    (0, 3, 2)
+    (1, 1, 8)
+
+And why, at the top corner, was the name unterzuyder printed _with a
+small u_?
+
+Nobody but an Unterzuyder would know.
+
+Well, he didn't know.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Puzzled, he paced the room. Tomorrow Bigger Bailes would force his
+way aboard ship. Little could be done to stop him, partly because he
+insisted he needed ATG, a chemical staff of life necessary for muscular
+action, but mostly because he had superior fire-power. Actually, he
+wanted the map. If he didn't get it, he would inevitably loot the ship.
+
+He paused before the mirror, again. Glassless, he didn't feel like an
+Unterzuyder. Looking upon himself naked of face, he cringed. If only
+the whole thing were over. If only he were in the observatory under the
+greenly burning stars with--
+
+Frantically he stopped that line of thought.
+
+He hauled out a sheaf of maps. He had come prepared. He had brought the
+duplico-camera, the film developing equipment, the pantograph, other
+odds and ends. He had a shelf-full of celestial mechanic manuals, as
+well as books on the more ordinary arithmetics.
+
+But he had had only one year of math. Somewhere along the line, he had
+outguessed his patriarch of a father and his matriarch of a mother: law
+had been the result.
+
+Well suited, he had felt at the time, to the trickery, the deceit, and
+the orneriness of the typical Unterzuyder mind!
+
+Anyway, he needed a slide-rule before he could tackle the equations.
+For the present, he would work out the date the map was made. Then it
+would be possible to discover X's present position.
+
+All that was necessary was, mathematically, to rotate the present-time
+position of the planets backward in time--clockwise, that is--until
+they coincided with map-position.
+
+The star-maps, the Emphemeris, and the Planet Catalogue should make
+that fairly simple.
+
+After an hour, his nerves began to quiver. He ran his hands
+distractedly through his awry blonde hair. He had the answer. And it
+was impossible. Except that it was correct.
+
+Apparently, the map had been drawn up in prehistoric times.
+
+50,000 years ago!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+After a virtually sleepless sleep-period, he went to breakfast. The
+settlers were in a happy chattering mood. Titan was only ten days away.
+Unterzuyder ate with the pressure of the Beechers' eyes on him.
+
+Nathaniel Beecher showed quiet menace on a face that ordinarily held
+grinning, shifty-eyed comraderie. Fayette had sullen, angry shadows
+under her eyes. Perhaps she was smarting under a humiliation that
+might make her do dangerous things. He had left her rather abruptly at
+the dance. Unterzuyder bit his lip. Perhaps he had not covered that
+situation as well as he might.
+
+Remorse was an emotion new to Unterzuyder. But then he had suffered
+some kind of mental upset when his glasses shattered under Fayette's
+heel. He could see as well as the next man, and consequently was
+beginning to have some shattering doubts about the wisdom of his
+immediate ancestors. And he _was_ a man.
+
+He gulped. All these were dangerous thoughts. He must continue to think
+like an Unterzuyder.
+
+Something devious. Something tricky. Something that would competently
+accomplish the task of fooling the Beechers, Bigger Bailes, and
+possibly Foshag!
+
+As he started out of the dining room, Beecher lunged after him,
+trailing a rocket-stream of cigar smoke.
+
+"A minute, Straley!" Beecher held him from the door, his close-set
+eyes full of dislike. "Foshag told me Bigger Bailes is back there."
+He jerked a shoulder. "You're a man with many small tricks, Straley,"
+he went on slowly. "Probably you're the most dangerous man I've ever
+encountered. I've been around."
+
+"I'll bet you have!"
+
+Beecher gestured with the cigar, turned on his grin, apparently to
+convince anybody watching that this was a friendly conversation.
+
+"But I'm not letting you get away with anything. We have to do
+something about Bailes. I don't intend to be hi-jacked. Truthfully,
+mister, I don't see why the settlers shouldn't be forewarned. They're a
+decent bunch. We're not.
+
+"In fact," his eyes were boring, "I've known from the first that you've
+been using these people."
+
+"As you have--and as you've attempted to use me!"
+
+"Yes." Beecher's lips moved hesitantly. "You and I and Fayette are all
+three getting a free ride to Titan, aren't we? No expenses. So now
+that we've _almost_ laid our cards on the table, why shouldn't we join
+forces?"
+
+Unterzuyder drew himself up disdainfully. "I work alone, Beecher."
+
+"Yeah." Beecher showed disgust. "You mean you're working for something
+no decent person would help you with."
+
+"And you mean by that?"
+
+Beecher's eyes simmered. He said nothing.
+
+Unterzuyder snapped. "I still work alone--unless forced to recruit
+help. That condition may occur. In the meantime, use some of those
+qualities of leadership an _explorer_ should have. Inform these people
+what's up. Tell them Bailes will probably attempt to loot the ship.
+Line the men up at the arsenal and load them down with weapons. Make
+arrangements so the women and children will keep to the cabins. Can you
+handle that?"
+
+Beecher flushed until his face was bright red.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Leaving him properly insulted, Unterzuyder went to the control turret
+where he cornered Foshag, drew him to the Solar Chart.
+
+Unterzuyder picked up a pencil, made an indentation at random. It was
+considerably to the east of the _Ares'_ present position.
+
+"Change course immediately. To that point."
+
+Foshag huffed rebelliously. "That won't help us outrun Bailes. The new
+course will but give him a hypotenuse to travel. He'll run us down
+quicker."
+
+Unterzuyder's lips turned thinner. Muttering, Foshag sat down to the
+computations. On the way out of the turret, Unterzuyder slipped a
+slide-rule out of an instrument case so deftly that nobody noticed.
+
+Another hour's work showed him that the two sets of figures,
+respectively, indicated X's _point of origin_ and _direction of
+travel_. _c_ stood for cosine, of course, _s_ for sine.
+
+X had been, when the map was made, some degrees below the plane of the
+ecliptic. Its orbit was at a steep slant to that plane.
+
+So what? So the point of origin was located in time 50,000 years ago?
+
+The map was a fake!
+
+He sat at the desk a long time, thinking, and thinking fast. Foshag
+must have known who he was from the first. He was an observing man, but
+he was also a close-mouthed man, who answered only to direct questions.
+And the Beechers knew his identity too. Fayette had accidentally called
+him by his real name. Treachery!
+
+Undoubtedly, Bigger Bailes had tipped off the Beechers, just before
+Unterzuyder arrived at the Beechers' apartment in Marsport. Bigger
+Bailes thought Unterzuyder knew where the map was, but didn't know the
+Beechers had it. Bigger intended to let the situation stir itself up so
+the asteroid's location would more easily come out of hiding.
+
+Yes, everything was wrong. Bigger would loot the ship when he learned
+the map was a practical joke. Taking a ship this far beyond Jupiter
+would have to pay off. And there was nobody to stop him.
+
+What was it his father told him about Unterzuyder techniques? Sell
+short at the top, buy long at the bottom. All events, good or bad,
+could be used to build a firmer superstructure!
+
+Well, face it! Ship's course had been changed. The settlers by this
+time had demanded to know why. Beecher would tell them Carruthers
+Straley was Ralph Unterzuyder, hunting for a hibernaculum!
+
+The settlers by this time were up in arms against him.
+
+He paled. He leaped to the door, listened. Footsteps. Patrolling his
+room.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He returned to the table. Make use of the situation. Dredge it for
+what it's worth! He crossed shakily to the audio and called Fayette's
+number. Luckily, Fayette and not her father answered.
+
+"Fayette--darling." The word came out huskily. It was hard to say. It
+sounded real.
+
+"_Who?_" Then her voice was uneven. "You called me darling. Are you
+sure you're in your right mind?"
+
+"I mean it, dear." _Did he?_ "I couldn't forget last night."
+
+He was falling into the self-made trap of the dishonest, unable to tell
+his own truth from his own falsehood.
+
+"All right," she said unevenly. "So you couldn't forget it? So what?"
+
+He spoke softly. Please, he had to see her in his room right away. It
+was urgent. Would she come now? A long silence. Yes, she would come.
+No, she wouldn't tell her father. Positively. Five minutes later
+she slipped into the room. She barely opened the door. He took her
+instantly into his arms. When he figured he had kissed her enough, he
+let her drop limply into a chair.
+
+The circles under her eyes were worse. She looked miserable. He drew up
+a chair, tenderly took her hands in his.
+
+"Look at me, Fayette. I'm going to make a confession that will shock
+you. I'm not Carruthers Straley. I'm Ralph Unterzuyder."
+
+She didn't look shocked. He pretended not to notice.
+
+He told her selected portions of the story. "I suspected you had the
+map. I examined _Tertium Organum_ in your apartment yesterday when you
+and your father were in the kitchen."
+
+_And you wanted me to examine it! So I'd be sure to hire you and
+Beecher and take you with me to Saturn. That was the reason you posed
+as explorers, so Titan Settlers would give you a free ride to the
+vicinity of X!_
+
+"I broke into your room last night, Fayette, and made a copy of the
+map."
+
+_And you left it wide open for me, so I could put my Unterzuyder brains
+to work deciphering it!_
+
+"And now that I've deciphered the map--"
+
+That shocked her. "You _did_? But Daddy figured out it was made roughly
+50,000 years ago!"
+
+His heart fell to the bottom of his stomach. The Beechers hadn't got
+over that stumbling block either. He'd made a mistake in trying to pump
+her. He smiled feebly. But salvage _something_ out of it!
+
+"50,000 years," he said druggedly, "seems to be correct--"
+
+She was on her feet, laughing half hysterically. "You're trying to say
+the Unterzuyders invented a time-machine? That they aren't hibernating
+at all? After all the trouble we've gone to--" She giggled. "That's
+rich, Ralph--"
+
+Female instability. He held her tightly. A lie, a good solid lie. His
+heart raced. Bigger Bailes. "Of course not, dear. The whole idea of a
+time-machine is fantasy--"
+
+_Is it?_
+
+"--and it'll make you feel better to know the map is purely
+contemporary. You noticed the ship changed course? Well, dear, we are
+headed toward X!"
+
+She pushed away, her eyes amazed.
+
+"And," he added happily, "you will also be glad to know that you and
+I and your father are going to collect the reward for finding the
+hibernaculum!"
+
+"_Really_, Ralph? That was your intention all along? You weren't going
+to _free_ them? Oh, I was hoping so hard you were going only after the
+reward--"
+
+She switched her glance over his shoulder. Pity wrenched her face.
+
+Something hit Ralph Unterzuyder hard on the back of the head. He fell
+straight down ten thousand miles, and lay there for quite a while
+studying patterns of light that squirmed in his head.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Captain Foshag was dragging him to a chair. His tufted eyebrows came
+close. He put a slopping cloth on Unterzuyder's forehead.
+
+He said, "For the time, you're a prisoner in this cabin. I trust the
+experience will teach you some truths. Wickedness secretes various
+poisons in the body, particularly the heart and the liver. Change your
+ways, and you may indeed live a long life!"
+
+The door burst open and Beecher lunged in. His shrewd eyes rested on
+Unterzuyder.
+
+"Sorry I had to bop you, Unterzuyder," he said in clipped accents. "But
+it was the best way to get you out of the picture and keep you from
+talking to Bigger Bailes. You might have messed up the works. As it
+was, we told him the truth."
+
+"The truth?"
+
+"Certainly. You admitted it to Fayette. That you'd figured out the
+orbit and present position of X. He got the course from Foshag and made
+us turn around toward Titan again. Then he took off for X. So we're
+whipped. But at least it kept us from being looted."
+
+Unterzuyder ripped the wet cloth from his head and threw it somewhere.
+He laughed. He weaved about the room, holding his head and hooting,
+while Foshag and Beecher looked on with open mouths. Then Foshag forced
+him into a chair.
+
+"Out of his head! Mr. Unterzuyder, please be quiet. That's better.
+There, there! Now we're going to leave you here for your own
+protection, Mr. Unterzuyder. The settlers are somewhat provoked. Do you
+agree?"
+
+Unterzuyder grinned widely up at him.
+
+"I'm sick," he groaned. "Tell Fayette I need her."
+
+_There's still X to find._
+
+An idea had come to him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He was in bed, the white cloth on his forehead, when Fayette walked in.
+She looked at him without sympathy. Tentatively, she sat on the edge of
+the bed, curling one knee under another.
+
+"I'm sorry if you think I played Delilah, Ralph--" she began.
+
+He patted her knee delicately. "There, there," he soothed. "None of
+that matters. Actually, we're two of a kind. Not that we're naturally
+treacherous, but that we are indirect, the most dangerous weapon in the
+world. I wanted to discuss our plans. You see, marriage is a--"
+
+She gripped his wrist, hard, to make him stop talking.
+
+She said through her teeth, "After this, nothing but the truth!"
+
+Inwardly he groaned.
+
+She went on with determination. "I _do_ love you. I _do_ want to marry
+you. And settle on Titan. The important thing is, do _you_ love me
+and really want to marry me? Are you going to be honest with me about
+things that concern only us? Of course, I don't mind if you're tricky
+with other people. That's life."
+
+_Well, why not?_
+
+Unfortunately, he would be unable to use her anymore for purposes of
+finding X. But apparently, he _was_ in love with her.
+
+He held her warm hands. "We'll get married and live on Titan," he said.
+
+She leaned over and kissed him until he thought he'd be forced down
+through the bed.
+
+He added, "But first I've got to get back in the good graces of the
+settlers." When she smiled incredulously, he said with confidence, "It
+should be easy."
+
+And besides, it was necessary.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As soon as Fayette left, he leaped out of bed and grabbed an
+encyclopaedia out of the bookcase. He looked up _Unterzuyder_, tracing
+down until he found the expected paragraph:
+
+_The fabulous cartels of the Unterzuyders were built up through their
+amazing instinct on the stock market. When the market was bullish,
+they seemed to know when the crest was reached. Selling short in heavy
+amount at this point, they reaped millions in profit as the market
+fell, then caught the market again on the upswing. Invariably, the
+bulls were caught short by the Unterzuyder bears. The Unterzuyders
+seemed to draw some special inspiration from one famous interpretation
+of their name, i. e._, undersiders, _those who work from the
+underside_....
+
+Unterzuyder sent the book scurrying into a corner. His hunch had been
+right. But now was not the time to work out the rest of the puzzle. He
+dressed quickly.
+
+When he walked into the dining room, where dinner was in progress, he
+was wearing the white bandage pinned around his forehead. He was also
+limping very slightly. Sympathy was nonetheless lacking. Complete quiet
+reigned in the dining room. The settlers kept their faces turned away,
+or looked fixedly at their plates.
+
+Fayette's expression alone showed sympathy. He knew his own face was
+fiery red.
+
+Nonetheless, he told the settlers everything he thought necessary.
+(They knew it anyway.) He apologized. He pointed out deviously that,
+after all, they _were_ on the way to a new world. That much he had done
+for them.
+
+"What you do not realize is that it was I, your leader, who diverted
+Bigger Bailes from looting the ship.
+
+"Quite deliberately, I built up the feeling that the new course was the
+course to X, the hibernaculum of my criminal ancestors. All of you were
+convinced. Therefore Bailes became convinced.
+
+"Had he known the Unterzuyder map was a fake, he would have taken it
+out on you by looting the ship. I sent him off on a wild goose chase!"
+
+Some of the settlers were looking at him with cautious interest.
+Beecher rose at this point.
+
+"I can say something in favor of Mr. Unterzuyder," he said. "His
+intentions were good. Mr. Unterzuyder was only after the reward money.
+He did _not_ intend to free the Unterzuyders, even though he is an
+Unterzuyder himself. And half of the reward money was to go into the
+treasury of Titan Settlers!"
+
+Unterzuyder looked pop-eyed at Beecher. But now the settlers were
+frankly staring at him. After a moment, they began eating again. In
+several minutes more, the hall was full of chatter again.
+
+After the most uncomfortable meal of his life, Unterzuyder headed for
+the door. Beecher caught up with him, grinning companionably.
+
+"We did a good job, mister," he said. "I had my own reasons for backing
+you up. This thing'll blow over. Then I've got some ideas. You and I
+are sharpies, Unterzuyder. We could set up in business on Titan and
+build up one of the biggest fortunes in the System, eventually. What do
+you say?"
+
+Unterzuyder smiled wanly and said he would think it over. Then he went
+to his cabin. In two hours, he had plotted X's location to the dot.
+
+Then he leaned back, nibbling nervously at the pencil eraser.
+
+In five days, with good fortune, the infamous Unterzuyders would be
+awake and free....
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It took him two days of cautious footwork before the settlers
+completely dropped their hostility toward him. Then one evening he told
+them simply that they still had Bigger Bailes to worry about.
+
+"When he discovers he's been fooled, it's possible he might head for
+Titan and try to loot the settlement. We have to be ready. For several
+weeks we'll have to be on guard. The space ship will be camouflaged.
+For awhile we'll suspend building operations.
+
+"We'll be ready for offense and defense. We have three life boats which
+are maneuverable in empty space or in an atmosphere. These life boats
+must be equipped with food, with water, with weapons. I'm calling for
+volunteers to help me with that job."
+
+It was a rude shock to Unterzuyder when Fayette became the first
+volunteer.
+
+By the fourth day, the life boats were deadly offensive craft.
+
+Unterzuyder paid particular attention to one of the life boats himself.
+Quite accidentally, it became loaded down with extra weapons and
+supplies.
+
+Only one thing bothered him. Fayette was underfoot all the time.
+
+As the time of leaving approached, his nerves began to get the better
+of him. The time, however, _did_ come. At 22:04 on the fifth day, in
+the middle of the sleeping period, he dialed open the airlock door to
+the blister in which the stout little life boat nestled. He closed it
+behind him, turned around. Fayette was standing at the hatch of the
+little ship, slickly dressed in shiny boots, smart beige jodphurs, and
+a blouse open at the throat.
+
+She was holding her pet neutron gun with the snout pointed toward him.
+She was smiling confidently.
+
+"Ralph," she said, "in my hand I hold a weapon. It is not indirect.
+It is not subtle. It does not practice deceit. It does not give
+half-answers. It says 'yes,' and it says 'no'. That's all it says.
+
+"It also _gets_ yes and no answers.
+
+"But don't be afraid of me, Ralph. I'm here to help you!"
+
+He found his voice. "Help me? I need no help! I work alone!"
+
+"Nobody works alone, Ralph. Ask Captain Foshag. Most people run on
+compulsive commands given them by people who might even be dead.
+Parents mostly. Positive suggestion. The mind works that way.
+
+"Sometimes people are made to feel they're unhealthy, only they aren't
+really. Or they're told their eyes are bad. Or that they're superior to
+other people.
+
+"It's just as if--" she frowned hard as if looking for an example "--as
+if _your_ parents were sitting inside that smart blonde head of yours,
+Ralph, and telling you to free the Unterzuyders from their sleep. It's
+something you feel you _have_ to do.
+
+"But you _don't_ have to, Ralph. I'm here to help you."
+
+He stared at her, stunned.
+
+He drew himself up arrogantly. "Put down that gun, Fayette."
+
+If anything, she held the gun more firmly, and moved it three inches
+toward him.
+
+"Don't mistake me, Ralph," she said, her eyes cold. "This is a yes and
+no game. No maybes or ifs. If you say yes when the gun says no, that's
+too bad. If you say no when the gun wants yes, _that's_ too bad. You
+see how straightforward the three of us are?
+
+"But I and my pet neutron gun will give you time to think.
+
+"Tell me how you found X."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He slumped weakly against the bulkhead, wiping at his forehead with the
+back of a shaking hand.
+
+"There were enough clues," he said hoarsely.
+
+And there had been, at that. _Tertium Organum_, A Key To The Enigmas Of
+The World, _was_ a key. Its author, Ouspensky, looked at the universe
+from a _different_ viewpoint.
+
+The small _u_ in unterzuyder meant that it was to be taken as a common
+noun.
+
+And certainly the conclusion that the map was made 50,000 years ago was
+itself an obvious clue!
+
+"We made our calculations on the assumption that the map had been made
+looking at the Solar System from the north--from the star Polaris,
+that is. It hadn't been. My ancestors drew the map from the unorthodox
+reference point of the Southern Cross.
+
+"From the underside. I turned the negative upside down and made a new
+map. Then I got right answers."
+
+"Very good," said Fayette. "The tricky Unterzuyders did live up to
+their name. _Didn't_ they, Ralph?"
+
+"Yes," he said shakily.
+
+The gun wavered. Fayette was blinking. "Ralph, do you love me?"
+
+"Yes...."
+
+"Are you being truthful? Will you always tell me the truth, the whole
+truth?"
+
+"Yes...."
+
+"That's a good boy. Please keep on giving my pet the right answers.
+Ralph, don't you know that if you freed the Unterzuyders I couldn't
+ever look at you again?"
+
+There were angry tears in her eyes. Unterzuyder suddenly remembered the
+time at the dance, when he had wiped away her tears. He should wipe
+them away now. He was weakening. He was an Unterzuyder. He should be
+strong. There was his duty....
+
+"Fayette," he said hoarsely.
+
+"Stand back." Her chin came up. "Answer the question! Yes or no."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Do you want to marry me?"
+
+"Yes, Fayette."
+
+Her mouth opened and closed. Suddenly her shoulders heaved and she
+shook her head blindly. The gun dropped to her side. "Oh, Ralph. I
+can't do it. I was going to ask you if you still wanted to go ahead
+with it. But I can't. I can't force you. You'll have to make up your
+own mind!" She turned away, hiding her face with one arm. Instantly, he
+leaped for her, tearing the gun from her hand.
+
+He looked at it where it lay black and ugly in his hands. He was seeing
+it very well, with his excellent Unterzuyder eyes. It slipped from his
+hand and fell to the floor. He let it lie, and took Fayette into his
+arms.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 66211 ***
diff --git a/66211-h/66211-h.htm b/66211-h/66211-h.htm
index 36457ca..5a0f2fe 100644
--- a/66211-h/66211-h.htm
+++ b/66211-h/66211-h.htm
@@ -1,1961 +1,1494 @@
-<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"

-    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">

-<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">

-  <head>

-    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=us-ascii" />

-    <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" />

-    <title>

-      The Project Gutenberg eBook of X Marks the Asteroid, by Ross Rocklynne.

-    </title>

-    <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" />

-

-    <style type="text/css">

-

-body {

-    margin-left: 10%;

-    margin-right: 10%;

-}

-

-    h1,h2 {

-    text-align: center; /* all headings centered */

-    clear: both;

-}

-

-p {

-    margin-top: .51em;

-    text-align: justify;

-    margin-bottom: .49em;

-}

-

-hr {

-    width: 33%;

-    margin-top: 2em;

-    margin-bottom: 2em;

-    margin-left: 33.5%;

-    margin-right: 33.5%;

-    clear: both;

-}

-

-hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;}

-hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;}

-

-.center   {text-align: center;}

-

-.right   {text-align: right;}

-

-/* Images */

-.figcenter   {

-    margin: auto;

-    text-align: center;

-}

-

-div.titlepage {

-  text-align: center;

-  page-break-before: always;

-  page-break-after: always;

-}

-

-div.titlepage p {

-  text-align: center;

-  text-indent: 0em;

-  font-weight: bold;

-  line-height: 1.5;

-  margin-top: 3em;

-}

-

-table {

-    margin-left: auto;

-    margin-right: auto;

-}

-

-.ph1 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; }

-.ph1 { font-size: medium; margin: .83em auto; }

-

-    </style>

-  </head>

-<body>

-

-<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of X Marks the Asteroid, by Ross Rocklynne</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and

-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions

-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms

-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online

-at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you

-are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the

-country where you are located before using this eBook.

-</div>

-

-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: X Marks the Asteroid</p>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Ross Rocklynne</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: September 3, 2021 [eBook #66211]</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net</div>

-

-<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK X MARKS THE ASTEROID ***</div>

-

-<div class="figcenter">

-  <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/>

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<div class="titlepage">

-

-<h1>X MARKS THE ASTEROID</h1>

-

-<h2>By Ross Rocklynne</h2>

-

-<p>Deep in space Ralph's ancestors lay in suspended<br />

-animation&mdash;a price on their heads. They left him a<br />

-map and a problem: awaken them&mdash;or collect the reward!...</p>

-

-<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br />

-Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy<br />

-January 1954<br />

-Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br />

-the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p>

-

-</div>

-

-<hr class="chap" />

-

-<p>The Unterzuyder map was out of hiding. Relayed on a grapevine that

-spanned the planets, the news caught on big in Marsport.</p>

-

-<p>Bigger Bailes sat at a beer-bottle-colored glass desk in his underworld

-retreat, announcing his intent to claim the reward money that for

-eighty-five years had been piling up at compound interest in the

-Terra-First National Bank of New York.</p>

-

-<p>"Ralph Unterzuyder is here in Marsport," he stated. "Like all

-Unterzuyders, he's clever and he's dangerous and he's shifty. He'll

-travel the crookedest course you ever saw. At the moment, he's got his

-identity pretty well covered up under the name of Carruthers Straley.

-In the last three weeks he's organized a band of settlers from

-Satterfield City who call themselves Titan Settlers, Ltd.</p>

-

-<p>"Not that I'm fooled! I'm not saying the Unterzuyder hibernaculum is

-on Titan. I'm not even saying Unterzuyder has the map. But I'm willing

-to bet he's got a pretty good idea where the map is. I'm also willing

-to bet that his father died without leaving him a cent, and that he

-organized Titan Settlers, Ltd., just to get himself a free ride out

-Saturn-way. He's capable of that kind of reasoning."</p>

-

-<p>Bigger Bailes smiled rosily and reached for his hat. One of his men

-held the door open for him.</p>

-

-<p>"Right now, I'm on my way to see Carruthers Straley. Maybe he will cut

-in with me. If not&mdash;" he thoughtfully rubbed at the fat of his big jaw

-"&mdash;if not, I'll help him hang himself."</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Ralph Unterzuyder, fourth generation descendant of the infamous

-Unterzuyders, emerged testily from the Glass &amp; Sand Bldg. where he

-had just set up a law office under the name of Carruthers Straley. No

-sooner had he set foot to the glass sidewalk than he was aware a big,

-smiling man had fallen into step beside him. He backed up against the

-wall of the building, his eyes wide and cautious behind dark glasses.</p>

-

-<p>"What do you want?" he snapped.</p>

-

-<p>Bigger Bailes smiled, introduced himself. Unterzuyder looked around as

-if ready to make a break for it. Bailes stood in front of him. He shook

-his head.</p>

-

-<p>"I'm not going to hurt you, Mr. Unterzuyder."</p>

-

-<p>At mention of the name, Unterzuyder smiled arrogantly.</p>

-

-<p>"Really, does one have no privacy? But perhaps one of your caliber is

-well acquainted with the advantages of using an alias!"</p>

-

-<p>"There are advantages," Bigger nodded. "Your advantage lies in heading

-a group of settlers who don't know you're using them to help you find

-the asteroid where your ancestors have been sleeping for the past

-eighty-odd years."</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder's cane whipped around nervously. "I know nothing about a

-map!"</p>

-

-<p>Bigger's jowls quivered with mirth. "Seven weeks ago," he pointed out,

-"your father died. He told you the map was hidden in an old book called

-<i>Tertium Organum</i>, A Key To The Enigmas Of The World. By somebody named

-Ouspensky."</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder's eyes moved desperately to the street, down which a single

-gyromobile moved.</p>

-

-<p>"I have an appointment," he said stiffly. "Now if you will permit me to

-be on my way before they turn the rain-makers on&mdash;"</p>

-

-<p>"It won't rain for ten minutes. Better let me finish&mdash;if you don't want

-your precious settlers to know who you really are!</p>

-

-<p>"As soon as your aunt heard about your father's death, she put the

-old Unterzuyder house up for auction to pay your father's creditors.

-The furniture went mostly to junk-dealers, the rest to museums. All

-the books, some ten thousand of them, were bought by a big New York

-used-book company, Frangy &amp; Sons, Ltd.</p>

-

-<p>"Half of these books, the ones whose titles all began with the letters

-of the alphabet up through 'M', were kept in their New York branch. The

-remainder were sent to open a book store in Marsport. By the time you

-got to Marsport from Earth, the book was reported already sold&mdash;to a

-person unknown. That's all true, <i>isn't</i> it?</p>

-

-<p>"After having failed to find the map, Mr. Unterzuyder, you then sent

-the story to a newspaper&mdash;anonymously."</p>

-

-<p>"I did?" Unterzuyder looked arrogantly at Bailes.</p>

-

-<p>"Yes." Bigger's eyes narrowed. "Why?"</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder surged angrily away from the wall. "I am not interested in

-your questions. I have my chosen mission in life. It is not the making

-of money!"</p>

-

-<p>He brandished his cane. "I warn you, Mr. Bailes," he cried, "I am a

-nervous man. If I am not permitted to leave&mdash;"</p>

-

-<p>Bigger spread his hands, astonished. "Don't think for a minute I'm

-keeping you. The only suggestion I wanted to make was that you and I

-could work together."</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder took off his glasses. There were red marks around his eyes

-where the glasses had taken hold. He had inherited the famous thin

-nose and receding chin of the Unterzuyders. His pale thin lips worked

-nervously.</p>

-

-<p>"I work alone, Mr. Bailes," he said haughtily. "And I work best when

-such as you try to set your pitiful little traps! Threaten me as you

-will, nothing can keep me from my purpose. And now good-day."</p>

-

-<p>Bigger's voice was filled with disgust. "Your purpose being, of course,

-to find asteroid X and free your ancestors so they can go to work on

-the Solar System again!"</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder glared, primly returned his glasses to his nose, and

-stalked off.</p>

-

-<p>"Scoundrel!" he muttered, putting his hand over his heart. He gasped.

-It was racing. And he was sweating. Trembling. His mother, the

-Unterzuyder matriarch, had been quite right. He should take care of his

-health.</p>

-

-<p>By the time he caught a one-wheeled gyromobile that came bowling down

-the glass street, he was feeling much better.</p>

-

-<p>"Take me to the Hotel de Mars," he told the driver. He leaned back

-comfortably, gloved hands resting on the head of his cane while he

-looked around him. A strange, glass-domed city, set in the heart of

-Mars' desert wastelands. A thriving city, with low buildings touching

-the glass roof of the dome.</p>

-

-<p>The rain-maker went on, the first drops splattering down from the

-overhead sprinkler system. Unterzuyder cringed.</p>

-

-<p>"Driver, driver!" he cried, rapping smartly with his cane. "Do you want

-me to catch my death?"</p>

-

-<p>The driver hurriedly caused the separate halves of the glassteel cupola

-to fold over the car. Unterzuyder settled back injuredly.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>At the registration desk of the Hotel de Mars, he asked for, and was

-shown to the room of, Mr. Nathaniel and Miss Fayette Beecher. The door

-was thrown open by a tanned blonde girl in smart gray jodhpurs and

-slick boots.</p>

-

-<p>Her face at first registered a nervousness. Then it smoothed.</p>

-

-<p>"Oh!" she sang out, blue eyes widening and taking him in from head to

-toe. "You must be Mr. Straley." She cocked her lively face cutely to

-one side. "<i>Are</i> you?"</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder's heart banged. He bit his lip. This was exactly the kind

-of girl his dead mother warned him to stay away from. Coquettish. Sexy.

-Treacherous, like most females. And he had lately noticed, to his

-dismay, that he, an Unterzuyder, was becoming far too susceptible to

-such unhealthy influences.</p>

-

-<p>"I am Mr. Straley," he said coldly. "Carruthers Straley, founder of

-Titan Settlers, Ltd. Shall I come in?"</p>

-

-<p>"Please <i>do</i>. For a moment, I lost my wits."</p>

-

-<p>She's making a play for me, like all females, he thought.

-Discouragedly, Unterzuyder went in. He sat down on a sponge-plastic

-chair, resting his gloved hands on his cane and looking upon the girl

-sternly.</p>

-

-<p>"Daddy!" she sang out. "Mr. Straley is here!"</p>

-

-<p>A man with a half-bald head and a deep tan lunged into the room

-carrying a heavy rocket-gun. His grin was wide, his voice reedy and

-enthusiastic. He was happy to know Mr. Straley. He laid the gun

-tenderly on the floor. Unterzuyder looked at it distrustfully.</p>

-

-<p>Beecher's reedy laugh sounded. "It's not cocked," he explained. "You

-caught me right in the middle of a clean-and-polish job. That ol' gun

-o' mine's been everywhere, mister. Most of the Moons of Jupiter, out

-on the deserts&mdash;even Africa. Yessir, our exploring expeditions have

-taken us into every corner of the Solar System that's available."</p>

-

-<p>The girl whipped open a drawer in the bottom of a boxy chair made of

-crystal glassteel. "And here's <i>my</i> pet!" She reached in to pull out

-a long-snouted neutron gun with a triple trigger. Unterzuyder's heart

-banged for the third time in an hour. In the drawer was one other

-object: <i>Tertium Organum</i>, A Key To The Enigmas Of The World.</p>

-

-<p>An old book. A musty book. The book from his beloved dead father's

-library. The book that held the Unterzuyder map.</p>

-

-<p>His breath hissed. Beecher leaned solicitously forward. "Anything

-wrong, Mr. Straley?"</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, no, nothing," said Unterzuyder, pain wrenching his face. "But I'm

-not a healthy man. My heart&mdash;"</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, what a shame." Fayette leaned over him, dizzying him with her

-perfume. She put her warm little hand on his forehead. She held his

-wrist to feel his pulse. She shook her blonde curls vigorously. "Nope.

-No fever. The pulse <i>did</i> seem to race a little when I held your hand.

-Outside of that&mdash;" She surveyed him judicially. "I'll bet you're as

-healthy as a Venusian peat-dog!"</p>

-

-<p>"Oh, come now," protested Beecher. "If the man says he's got a

-galloping heart, that's what he's got. Think of the courage, the

-idealism, the sheer fortitude of this man, who has gathered together a

-group of settlers to brave the dangers of a jungle-world like Titan&mdash;a

-planet no one has ever attempted to colonize! I personally <i>hand</i> it to

-the man!"</p>

-

-<p>There was a fawning admiration on his unshaven, grinning face.</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder settled back in his chair, feeling put upon.</p>

-

-<p>"I'm afraid of guns," he told Fayette petulantly. "If you'd please put

-it away&mdash;Besides&mdash;" He drew a clipping from his bill-fold. "&mdash;I am

-already convinced of your prowess as explorers."</p>

-

-<p>The headlines on the clipping read:</p>

-

-<p class="ph1">EXPLORERS RETURN FROM<br />

-GANYMEDE ICE TUNDRA<br />

-Father and daughter<br />

-make unique team</p>

-

-<p>"It says quite a bit about the expeditions you two have headed.

-Needless to say, I'm impressed! I am here, of course, to make you a

-proposition."</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>He explained his purpose at some length. For several weeks he had been

-engaged on a project dear to his heart. He believed in the future of

-the human race. He wanted to spread mankind's dominion even beyond the

-Moons of Jupiter. Titan had been viewed by only two men, both of whom

-stated it was livable. It had soil. It had vegetation. Also, it had

-dangerous animal life.</p>

-

-<p>"That's for us!" said Fayette stoutly. She accidentally pointed the

-neutron gun at Unterzuyder. She was squirming around on her chair with

-repressed vitality. Her eyes melted on him. He wished he could get over

-the feeling that she was laying it on too thick. That perfume. He must

-not allow himself to be affected.</p>

-

-<p>He cringed from the gun. She hastily put it on the floor. He wondered

-how accidental it might have been. Probably these cheap opportunists

-were perfectly capable of killing.</p>

-

-<p>He would have to watch his step. They had the map, all right. The

-bookseller's description of Fayette had been quite correct and helpful.</p>

-

-<p>Fortunately, the bookseller had been willing to accept a bribe not to

-give anybody else the information.</p>

-

-<p>He spoke again.</p>

-

-<p>"When I received your viso-call, Miss Beecher, I at once felt that

-Titan Settlers could work with you. I seriously discussed with them

-the possibility of giving you and your father titular command of the

-expedition."</p>

-

-<p>"Uh&mdash;" said Fayette. "You've already been capitalized?"</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder coughed delicately. "My intrepid settlers are composed

-of young husbands and wives and their children. I was able to sell

-them&mdash;that is&mdash;the magic allure of a new world was really all that

-was necessary to convince them that Titan is where their destiny lay.

-They sold all their belongings, and&mdash;ah&mdash;invested the funds with me as

-Treasurer of the organization."</p>

-

-<p>Beecher smacked his hands together enthusiastically.</p>

-

-<p>"Fine, fine! There's nothing the daughter and I like better than to

-push on into a new frontier. Mr. Straley, for twenty thousand credits

-we're bought!"</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder sat bolt upright. "Ten thousand credits," he said severely,

-"is the top amount we can offer. That is final. With one thousand

-credits in advance!"</p>

-

-<p>He whipped out a check book. He adjusted his glasses. Primly, he wrote

-a check and extended it with a jabbing motion, holding it for perhaps

-thirty seconds before Beecher's crestfallen face turned toward his

-daughter. Fayette was looking with intense interest at the check.</p>

-

-<p>"Why not? Mr. Straley, like you, we're idealists. Money means hardly

-anything. I think you've made a deal!"</p>

-

-<p>Beecher stowed the check in his wallet with satisfaction. "Now we'll

-get busy. Of course, we'll have to have a drawing account. We'll have

-to discuss details, such as the number of settlers to be transported

-so I can buy or charter the proper type of space ship. There's the

-matter of building supplies to be bought&mdash;grain seeds&mdash;food&mdash;a thousand

-details which you can leave entirely in our hands, Mr. Straley!</p>

-

-<p>"And while we're at it, I'd like to shake your hand! It's very few

-people who'd endanger their own lives to further the progress of

-mankind!"</p>

-

-<p>The experience left Unterzuyder weak. He looked appealingly at Fayette.

-"I wonder if a glass of water&mdash;" he said feebly.</p>

-

-<p>Hurriedly she disappeared to the apartment kitchen. Unterzuyder slumped

-lower in the seat, breathing hard.</p>

-

-<p>"Maybe," he told Beecher helplessly, "a shot of whiskey would do the

-trick better."</p>

-

-<p>"Sure thing!" Beecher went after his daughter. As soon as they were

-both out of the room, Unterzuyder got up and pulled open the drawer

-containing <i>Tertium Organum</i>, A Key To The Enigmas Of The World.

-Quickly he unfolded the chart in the back of the book. The map should

-be there.</p>

-

-<p>It wasn't.</p>

-

-<p>He slapped the drawer shut, sank feebly back to his seat. The Beechers

-were gone an inordinately long time. He thought he heard them

-whispering in the kitchen. Then Beecher lunged back into the room

-bearing a jigger of no doubt cheap rye. Unterzuyder gulped it down and

-put the glass to one side.</p>

-

-<p>Fayette was admiring. "For a man in poor health," she exclaimed, "you

-take it without a whimper&mdash;or a chaser!"</p>

-

-<p>"Eh?" Unterzuyder blinked, then drew himself up stiffly. "Whiskey is

-the only medicine my doctor permits. And now, let's get down to the

-matter of the contract!"</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>One month later.</p>

-

-<p>Ralph Unterzuyder was furious. He stalked the darkened decks of the

-trembling space ship <i>Ares</i>&mdash;a slick hundred-tonner with sixty square

-feet of firing surface&mdash;and reflected that the Beechers were making a

-worse sucker out of him than he'd expected them to.</p>

-

-<p>First, they were a pair of fakers. That much had been obvious from the

-start, with that phony newspaper write-up, all that bragging about

-their knowledge of fire-arms when they didn't even know enough to keep

-a weapon pointed toward the floor. Well, he'd expected that much. But

-to discover they did not even have <i>basic</i> knowledge of how to outfit

-an expedition!</p>

-

-<p>They had actually begun ordering <i>lumber</i> for building, until he

-pointed out the climate of Titan might be kinder to prefabricated

-glassteel sections.</p>

-

-<p>They had actually paid out money for seeds, bulbs, and saplings until

-he showed that all farming on Titan must for the present be on an

-experimental or at best highly speculative basis.</p>

-

-<p>Not only that, they had attempted to charter a ship twice as big

-as needed, one that used large quantities of chemical fuels. That

-ridiculous error had been amended with a smaller ship sporting

-atomic gas-thrust. As for the captain and crew, they had been hired

-by Unterzuyder himself&mdash;and, by means of the secret passage of one

-thousand credits from Titan Settlers' funds to Captain Foshag, the

-captain and crew were bought.</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder balanced himself angrily down a companionway. As he

-passed a hanging ventilator, the drum-beat and skittering rhythm of

-a jury-rigged orchestra echoed up from the ballroom. A dance was in

-progress. Unterzuyder smiled sentimentally. Nothing like giving the

-settlers a run for their money.</p>

-

-<p>Of course, he reflected dourly, Fayette Beecher had got the best of

-him in the matter of using the drawing account. Unterzuyder scowled.

-What had got into him? Somehow, Fayette's roving blue eyes and fiery

-touch did their work on him. Next thing he knew, he was in duress,

-being dragged on the arm of that fluffy creature from one dress shop to

-another.</p>

-

-<p>An expense account to buy swirling party dresses?&mdash;with a smidgin here

-and there for fancy explorers' outfits? The memory of his folly made

-Unterzuyder squirm.</p>

-

-<p>He sighed heavily as he came to C deck. Anyway, by his own cleverness,

-he had a ship, he had the Beechers&mdash;who had the map!</p>

-

-<p>And the hibernaculum asteroid, where his dozen infamous ancestors were

-sleeping away the decades under the influence of a potent, forbidden

-drug called somnolene, was somewhere out near Titan. Or <i>had been</i>.</p>

-

-<p>That was the one thing he remembered when, as a child, his father

-showed him the legendary map. At least he was headed for the area where

-the asteroid <i>might be</i>.</p>

-

-<p>And so might, he reflected glumly, that arrogant, impossible Bigger

-Bailes!</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>The Beecher's double-state-room was on C deck. Just as he turned an L

-in the corridor, he ran head-on into a gaily running figure clad in a

-fluffy party dress.</p>

-

-<p>For a moment they struggled in an attempt to regain their balance,

-and when Unterzuyder came out of it he was holding Fayette Beecher

-tightly, and he was kissing her warm little face. She responded just as

-energetically. And suddenly he woke up to the horror of the role he had

-assumed.</p>

-

-<p>He shoved her away. She stumbled backward and there was a glassy

-tinkling sound.</p>

-

-<p>"Ooh, your glasses!" cried Fayette, making a grab for them. He grabbed,

-too, suddenly convinced he had gone blind. "They're broken, Ralph,

-honey!" she said. "You look so much better without them." She flung her

-arms around him again, pressing him back to the wall. Her lips drooped

-disappointedly.</p>

-

-<p>"I&mdash;I'm fond of you," she said unhappily. "But you're so darned

-peculiar. You fell all over yourself kissing me. Now you're backing

-off. What's wrong?"</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder was scared. It came as a shock to him that the extreme

-emergency of the situation had given him, by some hypnotic process,

-better vision than he'd ever had. In spite of the darkness of the hall,

-he could see that Fayette was ravishing. She could make a strong man

-weak. Well, he would not give her that opportunity.</p>

-

-<p>Besides, something she'd said just now, something he couldn't put his

-finger on, had subconsciously frightened him. What?</p>

-

-<p>These treacherous Beechers!</p>

-

-<p>Maybe she was using her indomitable weapon to win him over. To what?</p>

-

-<p>Perhaps to cut him in on the map. X marks the spot, indeed! X was a

-moving asteroid. It had been moving for some eighty-odd years since the

-map was made. To find its present location was a problem in celestial

-mechanics. The map would have to be deciphered. Not only that, the

-original maker of the map, being an Unterzuyder, had undoubtedly

-confused the issue by making the job hard even for a mathematician.</p>

-

-<p>Naturally, the Beechers hadn't dared take the map to anybody for

-deciphering. To do so, might have brought the whole criminal element

-in the Solar System after them. That of course, was a little thing

-Unterzuyder himself had arranged&mdash;when he anonymously gave the details

-of the story to the press.</p>

-

-<p>The Beechers had been boxed in.</p>

-

-<p>Now, in desperation, the Beechers probably figured that if Fayette

-could make Carruthers Straley fall in love with her, that he, being a

-lawyer, might have a devious enough mind to think like an Unterzuyder

-and decipher the map! <i>And</i> not betray them.</p>

-

-<p>They did not understand that Ralph Unterzuyder, alias Carruthers

-Straley, worked alone.</p>

-

-<p>They would find it out. And so would Bigger Bailes.</p>

-

-<p>He answered her direct question stiffly. "I shall continue to back

-off, Fayette. Love is an emotion which can be defined in various

-unflattering terms. I would not care to tumble your romantic castles!

-My mother&mdash;"</p>

-

-<p>"Aha! Your mother!" She leaped upon the word with a knowing and very

-wide grin. Then she took advantage of his pinned position against the

-bulkhead to kiss him again, determinedly and hard. For a wild half of

-eternity, his senses were swept away on a skittering whirlwind. Then by

-main force he tore away and lunged down the corridor.</p>

-

-<p>"Mr. Straley!" There was a bubble of repressed laughter. "I was going

-to ask if you'd take me to the dance!"</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>He did not answer. His flight was precipitous. It was not for several

-minutes that he realized the loss of his glasses had not impeded his

-vision. He leaned weakly against a bulkhead. Very early in life, his

-parents had insisted that the inherited weak eyes of the Unterzuyders

-be made normal with ocular aids. Indeed, powerful, dark eye-glasses had

-grown, over the generations, to be a symbol of Unterzuyder autocracy.</p>

-

-<p>His parents had been wrong.</p>

-

-<p>Perhaps they had been wrong in other things.</p>

-

-<p>He shuddered. Without his eye-glasses, he hardly felt himself to be an

-Unterzuyder.</p>

-

-<p>Slowly, memory of his original purpose in ordering Captain Foshag to

-throw a dance came back.</p>

-

-<p>In the ballroom, Beecher would be strutting to win the favor of

-somebody's wife.</p>

-

-<p>With a bit more success, Fayette would have a dozen young husbands

-circling her moth-like.</p>

-

-<p>Intrigue, thought Unterzuyder, and subtlety, is ever the adventurer's

-most potent weapon. The great general indirectly entices the foe away

-from his own most strongly held point!</p>

-

-<p>Several minutes later, he was fitting his pass-key into the door of the

-Beechers' stateroom. He closed the door, switched on the radi-lights.

-The efficiently furnished little rooms were brightly illumined.</p>

-

-<p>The map. Where? Start at the beginning. At first glance, <i>Tertium

-Organum</i> was not in the bookcase. Then he reached in back of the row of

-lurid fiction titles and knew he had guessed correctly.</p>

-

-<p>A little too correctly!</p>

-

-<p>He felt one of the few cold chills of his life traveling on his spine.

-He opened the book and the map fell out. He sat down weakly. His

-fingers trembled as he smoothed out the heavy rag parchment.</p>

-

-<p>A map of the Solar System. He dizzied. X marks the asteroid. Just as he

-remembered seeing it that long ago day when his great father showed it

-to him.</p>

-

-<p>His father, that stern-faced giant in whom the valiant blood of the

-hibernating Unterzuyders flowed, had been most explicit. One of these

-years, the map would be given to Ralph. He would guard it with his

-blood. In the course of time, Ralph would give it to <i>his</i> son.</p>

-

-<p>At long last, the hibernaculum would be opened, the dozen

-hibernating Unterzuyders would be brought to life with injections of

-anti-somnolene, and would once more take over their rightful place of

-dominance in the Solar System.</p>

-

-<p>The position they had been scourged from by a relentless political

-regime which had smashed the Unterzuyders' fabulous tri-planet cartels,

-leaving the remnants in the form of a thousand rigidly controlled small

-holding companies.</p>

-

-<p>The position they had been forced to flee from, leaving only their

-children&mdash;and a hidden map.</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder's fingers still shook. Sweat dribbled down his blonde

-hair-line. Something was wrong. Everything was wrong. The map itself

-was hideously out of scale.</p>

-

-<p>The traced orbits of the planets were circular, <i>not</i> elliptical.</p>

-

-<p>And the map itself.</p>

-

-<p><i>I should not have found it so easily</i>.</p>

-

-<p>Counter-intrigue?</p>

-

-<p>No time to lose.</p>

-

-<p>From his inside pocket, he took the flat little duplico-camera,

-adjusted the frame over the map. He flipped the shutter. Seconds later,

-the map was back exactly where he'd taken it from.</p>

-

-<p>There was only one sound in this quiet room, the tremor of the

-gas-thrust shoving the ship through dark void into the spaces beyond

-Jupiter. Suddenly, there was the scuffle of moving feet beyond the door.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Unterzuyder found himself in the position of a traveler in an alien

-city where savage little children had switched all the street signs.

-Nonetheless, he lunged for the door, threw off the lights in the

-stateroom, opened the door, closed it, stood with his back pressed

-against it.</p>

-

-<p>Hurrying footsteps. Unterzuyder was after the sound.</p>

-

-<p>The big, hurrying frame of Captain Foshag. Unterzuyder grabbed his

-arm, whipped him around. Foshag's hairy, dignified face was wrenched

-with astonishment.</p>

-

-<p>"Mr. Straley," he said uncertainly. His brow clouded. He looked at

-Unterzuyder's grip on his heavy arm and frowned with displeasure. He

-shook off the hand. "I'm not used to being manhandled, sir! You've

-perhaps imbibed too much at the party?" He was being sternly insulting.</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder crumbled. He could be wrong.</p>

-

-<p>"I&mdash;haven't been well. My heart&mdash;" He touched at his chest

-apologetically. It wasn't too far from the truth. Pains in his chest.

-His mother had always assured him the Unterzuyders were prone to heart

-trouble. Just as she'd got around to making him wear glasses. Terrible

-uncertainties were crowding him. He was surrounded by treachery. Had

-Foshag been shadowing him?</p>

-

-<p>Foshag's great frame rocked judicially on its toes.</p>

-

-<p>"If you truly have a bad heart," he said measuredly, "you'd have

-taken the long trail when the <i>Ares</i> hit heaven. We humans often are

-plagued with strange influences. Words spoken to the unguarded mind of

-the child sometimes become fact to the grownup. I'd not worry about

-the heart. And now, the reason I am away from the turret. I've been

-looking for you."</p>

-

-<p>He cleared his throat. "There's a king-sized ship of the Silver type

-on our tail, Mr. Straley. I'm not the worrying kind, however. Worry is

-indeed the prime cause of most kidney troubles, and, besides, beclouds

-the mind when there's work to be done. Therefore, not until I observed

-that the pursuing craft was indeed pursuing&mdash;"</p>

-

-<p>"Come to the point!" Everything else was swept away. Unterzuyder was

-suddenly furious at this big, stupid, philosophizing blunderer. "You're

-trying to excuse yourself for not telling me right away. Let's get to

-the turret!"</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder went at full stride, his brain in high gear. They were

-being pursued. That arrogant Bigger Bailes, no doubt! So what? Add one

-more menace to those he was collecting. In fact, mess up the mess a

-little more.</p>

-

-<p>"Captain Foshag," he said, "you are a well-read man. Ever read

-Ouspensky?"</p>

-

-<p>Foshag nodded his square bearded chin. "A man of vast creative mental

-power, Mr. Straley. A man who seemed able to step off our three

-dimensions and look at the universe from a new viewpoint." Tentatively:

-"You have an interest in the classical philosophers, perhaps?"</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder muttered something garbled. He trotted ahead of Foshag up

-the ramp to the glassed-in control turret, went past several instrument

-men to the viewing disk assembly. Foshag hurriedly got the pursuing

-ship on the cross-hairs. It was a great globoid catching golden-green

-sun on one half, black interstellar shadow on the other.</p>

-

-<p>"Raise it on the beam!" Unterzuyder ordered.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Moments later, Ralph Unterzuyder was looking into the detested face of

-Bigger Bailes.</p>

-

-<p>"That's me," smiled Bigger, his rosy face creasing. "Bigger Bailes. And

-how are you, Mr. Ralph Unterzuyder?" His smile became even more rosy.</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder gulped. He was completely dismayed. Captain Foshag showed

-no reaction at the unmasking. Captain Foshag kept his face turned

-studiously away.</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder felt himself going into a spin.</p>

-

-<p>But he drew himself up and said haughtily, "Kindly keep your inside

-information to yourself, Mr. Bigger Bailes. I travel under the name of

-Carruthers Straley merely because there is an unsavory flavor to the

-name of Unterzuyder!</p>

-

-<p>"Now, why are you following us?"</p>

-

-<p>"Following you?" Bigger Bailes appeared injured. "I'm trying to catch

-up with you. I intend to come aboard&mdash;"</p>

-

-<p>"<i>You will not!</i>" Unterzuyder yelled the words so loud the crew members

-in back of him half-jumped from their charts.</p>

-

-<p>Bigger's image wavered on the screen as he leaned forward and settled

-back.</p>

-

-<p>"I didn't expect such a reaction, Mr.&mdash;Straley," he said. His little

-eyes, almost hidden by fat, were penetrating. "I'd almost think you

-were hiding something. Are you?"</p>

-

-<p>Foshag raised a commanding hand. "That'll be enough of that," he

-commanded. "We're a law-abiding ship. I myself am an honest man.

-Secrecy gives rise to certain nervous disorders which I avoid. If you

-wish to come aboard, perhaps you are taking advantage of some Space

-Article?"</p>

-

-<p>"Taking advantage? If you want to put it that way. Two of my men

-are down sick. The usual spastic seizures. We've run out of ATG.

-We're coming aboard your ship to get some. Article 10b of the Space

-Constitution gives us that right."</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder brushed Foshag aside.</p>

-

-<p>"I warn you, Mr. Bailes," he said thickly, "if you have any ulterior

-motive, such as looting this ship, we will put up a fight! Our

-settlers were chosen for their intrepid qualities. We have guns. We

-have bombs. We have a flare-cannon. You will not find us easy prey!"</p>

-

-<p>Bailes leaned back easily. "Relax, Unterzuyder. As far as guns

-go, we've got our share. And we have got a brace of flare-cannons

-embrasured into the bulkheads of the <i>Space-Queen</i> ourselves, if you

-want to get tough."</p>

-

-<p>He spread his fat hands. "But who wants to get tough? See you

-gentlemen, aboard your ship, twenty-four hours from now." With which

-remark he broke contact.</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder was at Foshag instantly.</p>

-

-<p>"Not a word about my identity," he breathed. "After all, I did pay you

-a thousand credits!"</p>

-

-<p>"And for which I thanked you! Mr. Unterzuyder, I am not a secretive

-man. If asked a direct question, I seldom impair my health by lying.

-Now permit me to return to my duties."</p>

-

-<p>Fuming, Unterzuyder left the control turret, went straight to the

-ballroom. Here, without any hesitation whatever, he cut in on Fayette,

-taking her away from the handsomest husband in the lot. No word of

-apology.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>He held her very close, very tight. He danced with a mathematical

-precision. Even the soul of the dance, he reflected grimly, derives

-from a mathematical formula. The dummy four-piece band haggered out

-its hag-strut very effectively. He was rewarded as Fayette lost her

-surprised stiffness, and began to melt into him in perfect rhythm to

-the tune. Her blonde head gradually nestled into his shoulder, her eyes

-closed, a small, sweet smile on her lips.</p>

-

-<p>At the first opportunity, he swung her without a break to a small

-observation lounge, and in the cold green glow of a million stars drew

-her to him, letting himself be stunned by the warmth of her and the

-drugging quality of her perfume. He kissed her. He was carried away

-into a land of intricate enchantment where Love is All, and the Girl in

-my Arms is You.</p>

-

-<p>She opened her eyes, looking at him dreamily. "I love you," she

-murmured.</p>

-

-<p>"I know," said Unterzuyder.</p>

-

-<p>"I don't know what your intentions are. I don't care what kind of a

-sneaky, underhanded person you are, I still love you."</p>

-

-<p>He kissed her again. She was crying. Unterzuyder took out his

-handkerchief and wiped away her tears. "Now don't worry, Fayette," he

-soothed. "Everything will turn out all right." He took her back to the

-dance floor. By luck he found the young husband she'd been dancing

-with. He gave her back.</p>

-

-<p>"Sorry!" he said. He gave Fayette a fleeting smile and hurriedly took

-off.</p>

-

-<p>He went to his cabin and feverishly got to work. Plug up the loopholes

-as you go along! A favorite axiom of the Unterzuyders. Now that Fayette

-was in love with him, he could draw on her for any emergency.</p>

-

-<p>Apparently the time was coming when he would need an ally.</p>

-

-<p>He ran the negative through the hypo, put it in the dryer and paced

-the floor. He rubbed at his lips with the back of his hand. He could

-still smell Fayette's perfume. He could still feel her bare warm back.

-Careful, careful. He went to a mirror and looked at his face. Weak. The

-glassless eyes red-rimmed. Thin nose and lips. His spirits dropped. How

-could Fayette be in love with him? Particularly when he was one of the

-outlawed Unterzuyders.</p>

-

-<p>The finished photograph went into the automatic pantograph. He blew

-it up six times onto a square of Mirac paper. He smoothed the new map

-onto the desk. Instantly he saw why at first the map had appeared so

-impossibly distorted. The circles did not indicate the orbits of the

-planets. They were merely a logarithmic indication of the scale of the

-map.</p>

-

-<p>Mercury, being some 43,000,000 miles from the Sun, was the basic unit.

-And that was necessary.</p>

-

-<p>The Solar System could not be drawn to scale unless the inner planets

-were crowded in fractionally close to the Sun.</p>

-

-<p>Here, the positions of the planets were indicated by dots whose

-map-distance from the Sun receded inward in logarithmic ratio to actual

-distance.</p>

-

-<p>Pluto, for instance, being one hundred times farther from the Sun than

-Mercury in real distance, appeared by the map to be only, roughly,

-twenty times as far.</p>

-

-<p>The position of the dot-planets on the map of course indicated the

-<i>exact</i> date of the day when the map was drawn.</p>

-

-<p>The finely drawn X showed the position of the hibernaculum asteroid <i>on

-that day</i>.</p>

-

-<p>Since then, roughly eighty-two years ago, X had moved in its orbit.

-Where to?</p>

-

-<p>That was the problem.</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder sweated. It was said by the Unterzuyders, with possible

-justification, that only an Unterzuyder could think like an

-Unterzuyder. How often his father had told him that. But he was

-confused.</p>

-

-<p>Naturally. The map was meant to confuse.</p>

-

-<p>What were the figures at the bottom of the map?</p>

-

-<table summary="map figures">

-<tr><td>s-1</td><td align="right">   .7452</td></tr>

-<tr><td>c-1</td><td align="right"> -.2020</td></tr>

-</table>

-

-<p>and</p>

-

-<table summary="map figures">

-<tr><td>(0, 3, 2)</td></tr>

-<tr><td>(1, 1, 8)</td></tr>

-</table>

-

-<p>And why, at the top corner, was the name unterzuyder printed <i>with a

-small u</i>?</p>

-

-<p>Nobody but an Unterzuyder would know.</p>

-

-<p>Well, he didn't know.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Puzzled, he paced the room. Tomorrow Bigger Bailes would force his

-way aboard ship. Little could be done to stop him, partly because he

-insisted he needed ATG, a chemical staff of life necessary for muscular

-action, but mostly because he had superior fire-power. Actually, he

-wanted the map. If he didn't get it, he would inevitably loot the ship.</p>

-

-<p>He paused before the mirror, again. Glassless, he didn't feel like an

-Unterzuyder. Looking upon himself naked of face, he cringed. If only

-the whole thing were over. If only he were in the observatory under the

-greenly burning stars with&mdash;</p>

-

-<p>Frantically he stopped that line of thought.</p>

-

-<p>He hauled out a sheaf of maps. He had come prepared. He had brought the

-duplico-camera, the film developing equipment, the pantograph, other

-odds and ends. He had a shelf-full of celestial mechanic manuals, as

-well as books on the more ordinary arithmetics.</p>

-

-<p>But he had had only one year of math. Somewhere along the line, he had

-outguessed his patriarch of a father and his matriarch of a mother: law

-had been the result.</p>

-

-<p>Well suited, he had felt at the time, to the trickery, the deceit, and

-the orneriness of the typical Unterzuyder mind!</p>

-

-<p>Anyway, he needed a slide-rule before he could tackle the equations.

-For the present, he would work out the date the map was made. Then it

-would be possible to discover X's present position.</p>

-

-<p>All that was necessary was, mathematically, to rotate the present-time

-position of the planets backward in time&mdash;clockwise, that is&mdash;until

-they coincided with map-position.</p>

-

-<p>The star-maps, the Emphemeris, and the Planet Catalogue should make

-that fairly simple.</p>

-

-<p>After an hour, his nerves began to quiver. He ran his hands

-distractedly through his awry blonde hair. He had the answer. And it

-was impossible. Except that it was correct.</p>

-

-<p>Apparently, the map had been drawn up in prehistoric times.</p>

-

-<p>50,000 years ago!</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>After a virtually sleepless sleep-period, he went to breakfast. The

-settlers were in a happy chattering mood. Titan was only ten days away.

-Unterzuyder ate with the pressure of the Beechers' eyes on him.</p>

-

-<p>Nathaniel Beecher showed quiet menace on a face that ordinarily held

-grinning, shifty-eyed comraderie. Fayette had sullen, angry shadows

-under her eyes. Perhaps she was smarting under a humiliation that

-might make her do dangerous things. He had left her rather abruptly at

-the dance. Unterzuyder bit his lip. Perhaps he had not covered that

-situation as well as he might.</p>

-

-<p>Remorse was an emotion new to Unterzuyder. But then he had suffered

-some kind of mental upset when his glasses shattered under Fayette's

-heel. He could see as well as the next man, and consequently was

-beginning to have some shattering doubts about the wisdom of his

-immediate ancestors. And he <i>was</i> a man.</p>

-

-<p>He gulped. All these were dangerous thoughts. He must continue to think

-like an Unterzuyder.</p>

-

-<p>Something devious. Something tricky. Something that would competently

-accomplish the task of fooling the Beechers, Bigger Bailes, and

-possibly Foshag!</p>

-

-<p>As he started out of the dining room, Beecher lunged after him,

-trailing a rocket-stream of cigar smoke.</p>

-

-<p>"A minute, Straley!" Beecher held him from the door, his close-set

-eyes full of dislike. "Foshag told me Bigger Bailes is back there."

-He jerked a shoulder. "You're a man with many small tricks, Straley,"

-he went on slowly. "Probably you're the most dangerous man I've ever

-encountered. I've been around."</p>

-

-<p>"I'll bet you have!"</p>

-

-<p>Beecher gestured with the cigar, turned on his grin, apparently to

-convince anybody watching that this was a friendly conversation.</p>

-

-<p>"But I'm not letting you get away with anything. We have to do

-something about Bailes. I don't intend to be hi-jacked. Truthfully,

-mister, I don't see why the settlers shouldn't be forewarned. They're a

-decent bunch. We're not.</p>

-

-<p>"In fact," his eyes were boring, "I've known from the first that you've

-been using these people."</p>

-

-<p>"As you have&mdash;and as you've attempted to use me!"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes." Beecher's lips moved hesitantly. "You and I and Fayette are all

-three getting a free ride to Titan, aren't we? No expenses. So now

-that we've <i>almost</i> laid our cards on the table, why shouldn't we join

-forces?"</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder drew himself up disdainfully. "I work alone, Beecher."</p>

-

-<p>"Yeah." Beecher showed disgust. "You mean you're working for something

-no decent person would help you with."</p>

-

-<p>"And you mean by that?"</p>

-

-<p>Beecher's eyes simmered. He said nothing.</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder snapped. "I still work alone&mdash;unless forced to recruit

-help. That condition may occur. In the meantime, use some of those

-qualities of leadership an <i>explorer</i> should have. Inform these people

-what's up. Tell them Bailes will probably attempt to loot the ship.

-Line the men up at the arsenal and load them down with weapons. Make

-arrangements so the women and children will keep to the cabins. Can you

-handle that?"</p>

-

-<p>Beecher flushed until his face was bright red.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Leaving him properly insulted, Unterzuyder went to the control turret

-where he cornered Foshag, drew him to the Solar Chart.</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder picked up a pencil, made an indentation at random. It was

-considerably to the east of the <i>Ares'</i> present position.</p>

-

-<p>"Change course immediately. To that point."</p>

-

-<p>Foshag huffed rebelliously. "That won't help us outrun Bailes. The new

-course will but give him a hypotenuse to travel. He'll run us down

-quicker."</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder's lips turned thinner. Muttering, Foshag sat down to the

-computations. On the way out of the turret, Unterzuyder slipped a

-slide-rule out of an instrument case so deftly that nobody noticed.</p>

-

-<p>Another hour's work showed him that the two sets of figures,

-respectively, indicated X's <i>point of origin</i> and <i>direction of

-travel</i>. <i>c</i> stood for cosine, of course, <i>s</i> for sine.</p>

-

-<p>X had been, when the map was made, some degrees below the plane of the

-ecliptic. Its orbit was at a steep slant to that plane.</p>

-

-<p>So what? So the point of origin was located in time 50,000 years ago?</p>

-

-<p>The map was a fake!</p>

-

-<p>He sat at the desk a long time, thinking, and thinking fast. Foshag

-must have known who he was from the first. He was an observing man, but

-he was also a close-mouthed man, who answered only to direct questions.

-And the Beechers knew his identity too. Fayette had accidentally called

-him by his real name. Treachery!</p>

-

-<p>Undoubtedly, Bigger Bailes had tipped off the Beechers, just before

-Unterzuyder arrived at the Beechers' apartment in Marsport. Bigger

-Bailes thought Unterzuyder knew where the map was, but didn't know the

-Beechers had it. Bigger intended to let the situation stir itself up so

-the asteroid's location would more easily come out of hiding.</p>

-

-<p>Yes, everything was wrong. Bigger would loot the ship when he learned

-the map was a practical joke. Taking a ship this far beyond Jupiter

-would have to pay off. And there was nobody to stop him.</p>

-

-<p>What was it his father told him about Unterzuyder techniques? Sell

-short at the top, buy long at the bottom. All events, good or bad,

-could be used to build a firmer superstructure!</p>

-

-<p>Well, face it! Ship's course had been changed. The settlers by this

-time had demanded to know why. Beecher would tell them Carruthers

-Straley was Ralph Unterzuyder, hunting for a hibernaculum!</p>

-

-<p>The settlers by this time were up in arms against him.</p>

-

-<p>He paled. He leaped to the door, listened. Footsteps. Patrolling his

-room.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>He returned to the table. Make use of the situation. Dredge it for

-what it's worth! He crossed shakily to the audio and called Fayette's

-number. Luckily, Fayette and not her father answered.</p>

-

-<p>"Fayette&mdash;darling." The word came out huskily. It was hard to say. It

-sounded real.</p>

-

-<p>"<i>Who?</i>" Then her voice was uneven. "You called me darling. Are you

-sure you're in your right mind?"</p>

-

-<p>"I mean it, dear." <i>Did he?</i> "I couldn't forget last night."</p>

-

-<p>He was falling into the self-made trap of the dishonest, unable to tell

-his own truth from his own falsehood.</p>

-

-<p>"All right," she said unevenly. "So you couldn't forget it? So what?"</p>

-

-<p>He spoke softly. Please, he had to see her in his room right away. It

-was urgent. Would she come now? A long silence. Yes, she would come.

-No, she wouldn't tell her father. Positively. Five minutes later

-she slipped into the room. She barely opened the door. He took her

-instantly into his arms. When he figured he had kissed her enough, he

-let her drop limply into a chair.</p>

-

-<p>The circles under her eyes were worse. She looked miserable. He drew up

-a chair, tenderly took her hands in his.</p>

-

-<p>"Look at me, Fayette. I'm going to make a confession that will shock

-you. I'm not Carruthers Straley. I'm Ralph Unterzuyder."</p>

-

-<p>She didn't look shocked. He pretended not to notice.</p>

-

-<p>He told her selected portions of the story. "I suspected you had the

-map. I examined <i>Tertium Organum</i> in your apartment yesterday when you

-and your father were in the kitchen."</p>

-

-<p><i>And you wanted me to examine it! So I'd be sure to hire you and

-Beecher and take you with me to Saturn. That was the reason you posed

-as explorers, so Titan Settlers would give you a free ride to the

-vicinity of X!</i></p>

-

-<p>"I broke into your room last night, Fayette, and made a copy of the

-map."</p>

-

-<p><i>And you left it wide open for me, so I could put my Unterzuyder brains

-to work deciphering it!</i></p>

-

-<p>"And now that I've deciphered the map&mdash;"</p>

-

-<p>That shocked her. "You <i>did</i>? But Daddy figured out it was made roughly

-50,000 years ago!"</p>

-

-<p>His heart fell to the bottom of his stomach. The Beechers hadn't got

-over that stumbling block either. He'd made a mistake in trying to pump

-her. He smiled feebly. But salvage <i>something</i> out of it!</p>

-

-<p>"50,000 years," he said druggedly, "seems to be correct&mdash;"</p>

-

-<p>She was on her feet, laughing half hysterically. "You're trying to say

-the Unterzuyders invented a time-machine? That they aren't hibernating

-at all? After all the trouble we've gone to&mdash;" She giggled. "That's

-rich, Ralph&mdash;"</p>

-

-<p>Female instability. He held her tightly. A lie, a good solid lie. His

-heart raced. Bigger Bailes. "Of course not, dear. The whole idea of a

-time-machine is fantasy&mdash;"</p>

-

-<p><i>Is it?</i></p>

-

-<p>"&mdash;and it'll make you feel better to know the map is purely

-contemporary. You noticed the ship changed course? Well, dear, we are

-headed toward X!"</p>

-

-<p>She pushed away, her eyes amazed.</p>

-

-<p>"And," he added happily, "you will also be glad to know that you and

-I and your father are going to collect the reward for finding the

-hibernaculum!"</p>

-

-<p>"<i>Really</i>, Ralph? That was your intention all along? You weren't going

-to <i>free</i> them? Oh, I was hoping so hard you were going only after the

-reward&mdash;"</p>

-

-<p>She switched her glance over his shoulder. Pity wrenched her face.</p>

-

-<p>Something hit Ralph Unterzuyder hard on the back of the head. He fell

-straight down ten thousand miles, and lay there for quite a while

-studying patterns of light that squirmed in his head.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>Captain Foshag was dragging him to a chair. His tufted eyebrows came

-close. He put a slopping cloth on Unterzuyder's forehead.</p>

-

-<p>He said, "For the time, you're a prisoner in this cabin. I trust the

-experience will teach you some truths. Wickedness secretes various

-poisons in the body, particularly the heart and the liver. Change your

-ways, and you may indeed live a long life!"</p>

-

-<p>The door burst open and Beecher lunged in. His shrewd eyes rested on

-Unterzuyder.</p>

-

-<p>"Sorry I had to bop you, Unterzuyder," he said in clipped accents. "But

-it was the best way to get you out of the picture and keep you from

-talking to Bigger Bailes. You might have messed up the works. As it

-was, we told him the truth."</p>

-

-<p>"The truth?"</p>

-

-<p>"Certainly. You admitted it to Fayette. That you'd figured out the

-orbit and present position of X. He got the course from Foshag and made

-us turn around toward Titan again. Then he took off for X. So we're

-whipped. But at least it kept us from being looted."</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder ripped the wet cloth from his head and threw it somewhere.

-He laughed. He weaved about the room, holding his head and hooting,

-while Foshag and Beecher looked on with open mouths. Then Foshag forced

-him into a chair.</p>

-

-<p>"Out of his head! Mr. Unterzuyder, please be quiet. That's better.

-There, there! Now we're going to leave you here for your own

-protection, Mr. Unterzuyder. The settlers are somewhat provoked. Do you

-agree?"</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder grinned widely up at him.</p>

-

-<p>"I'm sick," he groaned. "Tell Fayette I need her."</p>

-

-<p><i>There's still X to find.</i></p>

-

-<p>An idea had come to him.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>He was in bed, the white cloth on his forehead, when Fayette walked in.

-She looked at him without sympathy. Tentatively, she sat on the edge of

-the bed, curling one knee under another.</p>

-

-<p>"I'm sorry if you think I played Delilah, Ralph&mdash;" she began.</p>

-

-<p>He patted her knee delicately. "There, there," he soothed. "None of

-that matters. Actually, we're two of a kind. Not that we're naturally

-treacherous, but that we are indirect, the most dangerous weapon in the

-world. I wanted to discuss our plans. You see, marriage is a&mdash;"</p>

-

-<p>She gripped his wrist, hard, to make him stop talking.</p>

-

-<p>She said through her teeth, "After this, nothing but the truth!"</p>

-

-<p>Inwardly he groaned.</p>

-

-<p>She went on with determination. "I <i>do</i> love you. I <i>do</i> want to marry

-you. And settle on Titan. The important thing is, do <i>you</i> love me

-and really want to marry me? Are you going to be honest with me about

-things that concern only us? Of course, I don't mind if you're tricky

-with other people. That's life."</p>

-

-<p><i>Well, why not?</i></p>

-

-<p>Unfortunately, he would be unable to use her anymore for purposes of

-finding X. But apparently, he <i>was</i> in love with her.</p>

-

-<p>He held her warm hands. "We'll get married and live on Titan," he said.</p>

-

-<p>She leaned over and kissed him until he thought he'd be forced down

-through the bed.</p>

-

-<p>He added, "But first I've got to get back in the good graces of the

-settlers." When she smiled incredulously, he said with confidence, "It

-should be easy."</p>

-

-<p>And besides, it was necessary.</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>As soon as Fayette left, he leaped out of bed and grabbed an

-encyclopaedia out of the bookcase. He looked up <i>Unterzuyder</i>, tracing

-down until he found the expected paragraph:</p>

-

-<p><i>The fabulous cartels of the Unterzuyders were built up through their

-amazing instinct on the stock market. When the market was bullish,

-they seemed to know when the crest was reached. Selling short in heavy

-amount at this point, they reaped millions in profit as the market

-fell, then caught the market again on the upswing. Invariably, the

-bulls were caught short by the Unterzuyder bears. The Unterzuyders

-seemed to draw some special inspiration from one famous interpretation

-of their name, i. e.</i>, undersiders, <i>those who work from the

-underside</i>....</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder sent the book scurrying into a corner. His hunch had been

-right. But now was not the time to work out the rest of the puzzle. He

-dressed quickly.</p>

-

-<p>When he walked into the dining room, where dinner was in progress, he

-was wearing the white bandage pinned around his forehead. He was also

-limping very slightly. Sympathy was nonetheless lacking. Complete quiet

-reigned in the dining room. The settlers kept their faces turned away,

-or looked fixedly at their plates.</p>

-

-<p>Fayette's expression alone showed sympathy. He knew his own face was

-fiery red.</p>

-

-<p>Nonetheless, he told the settlers everything he thought necessary.

-(They knew it anyway.) He apologized. He pointed out deviously that,

-after all, they <i>were</i> on the way to a new world. That much he had done

-for them.</p>

-

-<p>"What you do not realize is that it was I, your leader, who diverted

-Bigger Bailes from looting the ship.</p>

-

-<p>"Quite deliberately, I built up the feeling that the new course was the

-course to X, the hibernaculum of my criminal ancestors. All of you were

-convinced. Therefore Bailes became convinced.</p>

-

-<p>"Had he known the Unterzuyder map was a fake, he would have taken it

-out on you by looting the ship. I sent him off on a wild goose chase!"</p>

-

-<p>Some of the settlers were looking at him with cautious interest.

-Beecher rose at this point.</p>

-

-<p>"I can say something in favor of Mr. Unterzuyder," he said. "His

-intentions were good. Mr. Unterzuyder was only after the reward money.

-He did <i>not</i> intend to free the Unterzuyders, even though he is an

-Unterzuyder himself. And half of the reward money was to go into the

-treasury of Titan Settlers!"</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder looked pop-eyed at Beecher. But now the settlers were

-frankly staring at him. After a moment, they began eating again. In

-several minutes more, the hall was full of chatter again.</p>

-

-<p>After the most uncomfortable meal of his life, Unterzuyder headed for

-the door. Beecher caught up with him, grinning companionably.</p>

-

-<p>"We did a good job, mister," he said. "I had my own reasons for backing

-you up. This thing'll blow over. Then I've got some ideas. You and I

-are sharpies, Unterzuyder. We could set up in business on Titan and

-build up one of the biggest fortunes in the System, eventually. What do

-you say?"</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder smiled wanly and said he would think it over. Then he went

-to his cabin. In two hours, he had plotted X's location to the dot.</p>

-

-<p>Then he leaned back, nibbling nervously at the pencil eraser.</p>

-

-<p>In five days, with good fortune, the infamous Unterzuyders would be

-awake and free....</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>It took him two days of cautious footwork before the settlers

-completely dropped their hostility toward him. Then one evening he told

-them simply that they still had Bigger Bailes to worry about.</p>

-

-<p>"When he discovers he's been fooled, it's possible he might head for

-Titan and try to loot the settlement. We have to be ready. For several

-weeks we'll have to be on guard. The space ship will be camouflaged.

-For awhile we'll suspend building operations.</p>

-

-<p>"We'll be ready for offense and defense. We have three life boats which

-are maneuverable in empty space or in an atmosphere. These life boats

-must be equipped with food, with water, with weapons. I'm calling for

-volunteers to help me with that job."</p>

-

-<p>It was a rude shock to Unterzuyder when Fayette became the first

-volunteer.</p>

-

-<p>By the fourth day, the life boats were deadly offensive craft.</p>

-

-<p>Unterzuyder paid particular attention to one of the life boats himself.

-Quite accidentally, it became loaded down with extra weapons and

-supplies.</p>

-

-<p>Only one thing bothered him. Fayette was underfoot all the time.</p>

-

-<p>As the time of leaving approached, his nerves began to get the better

-of him. The time, however, <i>did</i> come. At 22:04 on the fifth day, in

-the middle of the sleeping period, he dialed open the airlock door to

-the blister in which the stout little life boat nestled. He closed it

-behind him, turned around. Fayette was standing at the hatch of the

-little ship, slickly dressed in shiny boots, smart beige jodphurs, and

-a blouse open at the throat.</p>

-

-<p>She was holding her pet neutron gun with the snout pointed toward him.

-She was smiling confidently.</p>

-

-<p>"Ralph," she said, "in my hand I hold a weapon. It is not indirect.

-It is not subtle. It does not practice deceit. It does not give

-half-answers. It says 'yes,' and it says 'no'. That's all it says.</p>

-

-<p>"It also <i>gets</i> yes and no answers.</p>

-

-<p>"But don't be afraid of me, Ralph. I'm here to help you!"</p>

-

-<p>He found his voice. "Help me? I need no help! I work alone!"</p>

-

-<p>"Nobody works alone, Ralph. Ask Captain Foshag. Most people run on

-compulsive commands given them by people who might even be dead.

-Parents mostly. Positive suggestion. The mind works that way.</p>

-

-<p>"Sometimes people are made to feel they're unhealthy, only they aren't

-really. Or they're told their eyes are bad. Or that they're superior to

-other people.</p>

-

-<p>"It's just as if&mdash;" she frowned hard as if looking for an example "&mdash;as

-if <i>your</i> parents were sitting inside that smart blonde head of yours,

-Ralph, and telling you to free the Unterzuyders from their sleep. It's

-something you feel you <i>have</i> to do.</p>

-

-<p>"But you <i>don't</i> have to, Ralph. I'm here to help you."</p>

-

-<p>He stared at her, stunned.</p>

-

-<p>He drew himself up arrogantly. "Put down that gun, Fayette."</p>

-

-<p>If anything, she held the gun more firmly, and moved it three inches

-toward him.</p>

-

-<p>"Don't mistake me, Ralph," she said, her eyes cold. "This is a yes and

-no game. No maybes or ifs. If you say yes when the gun says no, that's

-too bad. If you say no when the gun wants yes, <i>that's</i> too bad. You

-see how straightforward the three of us are?</p>

-

-<p>"But I and my pet neutron gun will give you time to think.</p>

-

-<p>"Tell me how you found X."</p>

-

-<hr class="tb" />

-

-<p>He slumped weakly against the bulkhead, wiping at his forehead with the

-back of a shaking hand.</p>

-

-<p>"There were enough clues," he said hoarsely.</p>

-

-<p>And there had been, at that. <i>Tertium Organum</i>, A Key To The Enigmas Of

-The World, <i>was</i> a key. Its author, Ouspensky, looked at the universe

-from a <i>different</i> viewpoint.</p>

-

-<p>The small <i>u</i> in unterzuyder meant that it was to be taken as a common

-noun.</p>

-

-<p>And certainly the conclusion that the map was made 50,000 years ago was

-itself an obvious clue!</p>

-

-<p>"We made our calculations on the assumption that the map had been made

-looking at the Solar System from the north&mdash;from the star Polaris,

-that is. It hadn't been. My ancestors drew the map from the unorthodox

-reference point of the Southern Cross.</p>

-

-<p>"From the underside. I turned the negative upside down and made a new

-map. Then I got right answers."</p>

-

-<p>"Very good," said Fayette. "The tricky Unterzuyders did live up to

-their name. <i>Didn't</i> they, Ralph?"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes," he said shakily.</p>

-

-<p>The gun wavered. Fayette was blinking. "Ralph, do you love me?"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes...."</p>

-

-<p>"Are you being truthful? Will you always tell me the truth, the whole

-truth?"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes...."</p>

-

-<p>"That's a good boy. Please keep on giving my pet the right answers.

-Ralph, don't you know that if you freed the Unterzuyders I couldn't

-ever look at you again?"</p>

-

-<p>There were angry tears in her eyes. Unterzuyder suddenly remembered the

-time at the dance, when he had wiped away her tears. He should wipe

-them away now. He was weakening. He was an Unterzuyder. He should be

-strong. There was his duty....</p>

-

-<p>"Fayette," he said hoarsely.</p>

-

-<p>"Stand back." Her chin came up. "Answer the question! Yes or no."</p>

-

-<p>"Yes."</p>

-

-<p>"Do you want to marry me?"</p>

-

-<p>"Yes, Fayette."</p>

-

-<p>Her mouth opened and closed. Suddenly her shoulders heaved and she

-shook her head blindly. The gun dropped to her side. "Oh, Ralph. I

-can't do it. I was going to ask you if you still wanted to go ahead

-with it. But I can't. I can't force you. You'll have to make up your

-own mind!" She turned away, hiding her face with one arm. Instantly, he

-leaped for her, tearing the gun from her hand.</p>

-

-<p>He looked at it where it lay black and ugly in his hands. He was seeing

-it very well, with his excellent Unterzuyder eyes. It slipped from his

-hand and fell to the floor. He let it lie, and took Fayette into his

-arms.</p>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK X MARKS THE ASTEROID ***</div>

-<div style='text-align:left'>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-Updated editions will replace the previous one&#8212;the old editions will

-be renamed.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright

-law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,

-so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United

-States without permission and without paying copyright

-royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part

-of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project

-Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG&#8482;

-concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,

-and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following

-the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use

-of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for

-copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very

-easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation

-of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project

-Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may

-do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected

-by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark

-license, especially commercial redistribution.

-</div>

-

-<div style='margin:0.83em 0; font-size:1.1em; text-align:center'>START: FULL LICENSE<br />

-<span style='font-size:smaller'>THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE<br />

-PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK</span>

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-To protect the Project Gutenberg&#8482; mission of promoting the free

-distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work

-(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase &#8220;Project

-Gutenberg&#8221;), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full

-Project Gutenberg&#8482; License available with this file or online at

-www.gutenberg.org/license.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>

-Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg&#8482;

-electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to

-and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property

-(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all

-the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or

-destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works in your

-possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a

-Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work and you do not agree to be bound

-by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person

-or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.B. &#8220;Project Gutenberg&#8221; is a registered trademark. It may only be

-used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who

-agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few

-things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works

-even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See

-paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project

-Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works if you follow the terms of this

-agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg&#8482;

-electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (&#8220;the

-Foundation&#8221; or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection

-of Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works. Nearly all the individual

-works in the collection are in the public domain in the United

-States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the

-United States and you are located in the United States, we do not

-claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,

-displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as

-all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope

-that you will support the Project Gutenberg&#8482; mission of promoting

-free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg&#8482;

-works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the

-Project Gutenberg&#8482; name associated with the work. You can easily

-comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the

-same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg&#8482; License when

-you share it without charge with others.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern

-what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are

-in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,

-check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this

-agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,

-distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any

-other Project Gutenberg&#8482; work. The Foundation makes no

-representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any

-country other than the United States.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other

-immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg&#8482; License must appear

-prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg&#8482; work (any work

-on which the phrase &#8220;Project Gutenberg&#8221; appears, or with which the

-phrase &#8220;Project Gutenberg&#8221; is associated) is accessed, displayed,

-performed, viewed, copied or distributed:

-</div>

-

-<blockquote>

-  <div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-    This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most

-    other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions

-    whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms

-    of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online

-    at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you

-    are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws

-    of the country where you are located before using this eBook.

-  </div>

-</blockquote>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work is

-derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not

-contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the

-copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in

-the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are

-redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase &#8220;Project

-Gutenberg&#8221; associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply

-either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or

-obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg&#8482;

-trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work is posted

-with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution

-must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any

-additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms

-will be linked to the Project Gutenberg&#8482; License for all works

-posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the

-beginning of this work.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg&#8482;

-License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this

-work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg&#8482;.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this

-electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without

-prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with

-active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project

-Gutenberg&#8482; License.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,

-compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including

-any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access

-to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg&#8482; work in a format

-other than &#8220;Plain Vanilla ASCII&#8221; or other format used in the official

-version posted on the official Project Gutenberg&#8482; website

-(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense

-to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means

-of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original &#8220;Plain

-Vanilla ASCII&#8221; or other form. Any alternate format must include the

-full Project Gutenberg&#8482; License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,

-performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg&#8482; works

-unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing

-access to or distributing Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works

-provided that:

-</div>

-

-<div style='margin-left:0.7em;'>

-    <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'>

-        &bull; You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from

-        the use of Project Gutenberg&#8482; works calculated using the method

-        you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed

-        to the owner of the Project Gutenberg&#8482; trademark, but he has

-        agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project

-        Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid

-        within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are

-        legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty

-        payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project

-        Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in

-        Section 4, &#8220;Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg

-        Literary Archive Foundation.&#8221;

-    </div>

-

-    <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'>

-        &bull; You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies

-        you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he

-        does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg&#8482;

-        License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all

-        copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue

-        all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg&#8482;

-        works.

-    </div>

-

-    <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'>

-        &bull; You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of

-        any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the

-        electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of

-        receipt of the work.

-    </div>

-

-    <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'>

-        &bull; You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free

-        distribution of Project Gutenberg&#8482; works.

-    </div>

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project

-Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work or group of works on different terms than

-are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing

-from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of

-the Project Gutenberg&#8482; trademark. Contact the Foundation as set

-forth in Section 3 below.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.F.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable

-effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread

-works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project

-Gutenberg&#8482; collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg&#8482;

-electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may

-contain &#8220;Defects,&#8221; such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate

-or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other

-intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or

-other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or

-cannot be read by your equipment.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the &#8220;Right

-of Replacement or Refund&#8221; described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project

-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project

-Gutenberg&#8482; trademark, and any other party distributing a Project

-Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all

-liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal

-fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT

-LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE

-PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE

-TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE

-LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR

-INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH

-DAMAGE.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a

-defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can

-receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a

-written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you

-received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium

-with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you

-with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in

-lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person

-or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second

-opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If

-the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing

-without further opportunities to fix the problem.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth

-in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you &#8216;AS-IS&#8217;, WITH NO

-OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT

-LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied

-warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of

-damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement

-violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the

-agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or

-limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or

-unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the

-remaining provisions.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the

-trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone

-providing copies of Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works in

-accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the

-production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg&#8482;

-electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,

-including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of

-the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this

-or any Project Gutenberg&#8482; work, (b) alteration, modification, or

-additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg&#8482; work, and (c) any

-Defect you cause.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>

-Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg&#8482;

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-Project Gutenberg&#8482; is synonymous with the free distribution of

-electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of

-computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It

-exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations

-from people in all walks of life.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the

-assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg&#8482;&#8217;s

-goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg&#8482; collection will

-remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project

-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure

-and permanent future for Project Gutenberg&#8482; and future

-generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary

-Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see

-Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>

-Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit

-501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the

-state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal

-Revenue Service. The Foundation&#8217;s EIN or federal tax identification

-number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary

-Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by

-U.S. federal laws and your state&#8217;s laws.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-The Foundation&#8217;s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West,

-Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up

-to date contact information can be found at the Foundation&#8217;s website

-and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>

-Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-Project Gutenberg&#8482; depends upon and cannot survive without widespread

-public support and donations to carry out its mission of

-increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be

-freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest

-array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations

-($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt

-status with the IRS.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating

-charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United

-States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a

-considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up

-with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations

-where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND

-DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state

-visit <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/donate/">www.gutenberg.org/donate</a>.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we

-have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition

-against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who

-approach us with offers to donate.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make

-any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from

-outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation

-methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other

-ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To

-donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>

-Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project

-Gutenberg&#8482; concept of a library of electronic works that could be

-freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and

-distributed Project Gutenberg&#8482; eBooks with only a loose network of

-volunteer support.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-Project Gutenberg&#8482; eBooks are often created from several printed

-editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in

-the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not

-necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper

-edition.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-Most people start at our website which has the main PG search

-facility: <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>.

-</div>

-

-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>

-This website includes information about Project Gutenberg&#8482;,

-including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary

-Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to

-subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.

-</div>

-

-</div>

-

-</body>

-</html>

+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" />
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of X Marks the Asteroid, by Ross Rocklynne.
+    </title>
+    <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" />
+
+    <style type="text/css">
+
+body {
+    margin-left: 10%;
+    margin-right: 10%;
+}
+
+    h1,h2 {
+    text-align: center; /* all headings centered */
+    clear: both;
+}
+
+p {
+    margin-top: .51em;
+    text-align: justify;
+    margin-bottom: .49em;
+}
+
+hr {
+    width: 33%;
+    margin-top: 2em;
+    margin-bottom: 2em;
+    margin-left: 33.5%;
+    margin-right: 33.5%;
+    clear: both;
+}
+
+hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;}
+hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;}
+
+.center   {text-align: center;}
+
+.right   {text-align: right;}
+
+/* Images */
+.figcenter   {
+    margin: auto;
+    text-align: center;
+}
+
+div.titlepage {
+  text-align: center;
+  page-break-before: always;
+  page-break-after: always;
+}
+
+div.titlepage p {
+  text-align: center;
+  text-indent: 0em;
+  font-weight: bold;
+  line-height: 1.5;
+  margin-top: 3em;
+}
+
+table {
+    margin-left: auto;
+    margin-right: auto;
+}
+
+.ph1 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; }
+.ph1 { font-size: medium; margin: .83em auto; }
+
+    </style>
+  </head>
+<body>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 66211 ***</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="titlepage">
+
+<h1>X MARKS THE ASTEROID</h1>
+
+<h2>By Ross Rocklynne</h2>
+
+<p>Deep in space Ralph's ancestors lay in suspended<br />
+animation&mdash;a price on their heads. They left him a<br />
+map and a problem: awaken them&mdash;or collect the reward!...</p>
+
+<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br />
+Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy<br />
+January 1954<br />
+Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br />
+the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p>The Unterzuyder map was out of hiding. Relayed on a grapevine that
+spanned the planets, the news caught on big in Marsport.</p>
+
+<p>Bigger Bailes sat at a beer-bottle-colored glass desk in his underworld
+retreat, announcing his intent to claim the reward money that for
+eighty-five years had been piling up at compound interest in the
+Terra-First National Bank of New York.</p>
+
+<p>"Ralph Unterzuyder is here in Marsport," he stated. "Like all
+Unterzuyders, he's clever and he's dangerous and he's shifty. He'll
+travel the crookedest course you ever saw. At the moment, he's got his
+identity pretty well covered up under the name of Carruthers Straley.
+In the last three weeks he's organized a band of settlers from
+Satterfield City who call themselves Titan Settlers, Ltd.</p>
+
+<p>"Not that I'm fooled! I'm not saying the Unterzuyder hibernaculum is
+on Titan. I'm not even saying Unterzuyder has the map. But I'm willing
+to bet he's got a pretty good idea where the map is. I'm also willing
+to bet that his father died without leaving him a cent, and that he
+organized Titan Settlers, Ltd., just to get himself a free ride out
+Saturn-way. He's capable of that kind of reasoning."</p>
+
+<p>Bigger Bailes smiled rosily and reached for his hat. One of his men
+held the door open for him.</p>
+
+<p>"Right now, I'm on my way to see Carruthers Straley. Maybe he will cut
+in with me. If not&mdash;" he thoughtfully rubbed at the fat of his big jaw
+"&mdash;if not, I'll help him hang himself."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Ralph Unterzuyder, fourth generation descendant of the infamous
+Unterzuyders, emerged testily from the Glass &amp; Sand Bldg. where he
+had just set up a law office under the name of Carruthers Straley. No
+sooner had he set foot to the glass sidewalk than he was aware a big,
+smiling man had fallen into step beside him. He backed up against the
+wall of the building, his eyes wide and cautious behind dark glasses.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want?" he snapped.</p>
+
+<p>Bigger Bailes smiled, introduced himself. Unterzuyder looked around as
+if ready to make a break for it. Bailes stood in front of him. He shook
+his head.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not going to hurt you, Mr. Unterzuyder."</p>
+
+<p>At mention of the name, Unterzuyder smiled arrogantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Really, does one have no privacy? But perhaps one of your caliber is
+well acquainted with the advantages of using an alias!"</p>
+
+<p>"There are advantages," Bigger nodded. "Your advantage lies in heading
+a group of settlers who don't know you're using them to help you find
+the asteroid where your ancestors have been sleeping for the past
+eighty-odd years."</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder's cane whipped around nervously. "I know nothing about a
+map!"</p>
+
+<p>Bigger's jowls quivered with mirth. "Seven weeks ago," he pointed out,
+"your father died. He told you the map was hidden in an old book called
+<i>Tertium Organum</i>, A Key To The Enigmas Of The World. By somebody named
+Ouspensky."</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder's eyes moved desperately to the street, down which a single
+gyromobile moved.</p>
+
+<p>"I have an appointment," he said stiffly. "Now if you will permit me to
+be on my way before they turn the rain-makers on&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"It won't rain for ten minutes. Better let me finish&mdash;if you don't want
+your precious settlers to know who you really are!</p>
+
+<p>"As soon as your aunt heard about your father's death, she put the
+old Unterzuyder house up for auction to pay your father's creditors.
+The furniture went mostly to junk-dealers, the rest to museums. All
+the books, some ten thousand of them, were bought by a big New York
+used-book company, Frangy &amp; Sons, Ltd.</p>
+
+<p>"Half of these books, the ones whose titles all began with the letters
+of the alphabet up through 'M', were kept in their New York branch. The
+remainder were sent to open a book store in Marsport. By the time you
+got to Marsport from Earth, the book was reported already sold&mdash;to a
+person unknown. That's all true, <i>isn't</i> it?</p>
+
+<p>"After having failed to find the map, Mr. Unterzuyder, you then sent
+the story to a newspaper&mdash;anonymously."</p>
+
+<p>"I did?" Unterzuyder looked arrogantly at Bailes.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes." Bigger's eyes narrowed. "Why?"</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder surged angrily away from the wall. "I am not interested in
+your questions. I have my chosen mission in life. It is not the making
+of money!"</p>
+
+<p>He brandished his cane. "I warn you, Mr. Bailes," he cried, "I am a
+nervous man. If I am not permitted to leave&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Bigger spread his hands, astonished. "Don't think for a minute I'm
+keeping you. The only suggestion I wanted to make was that you and I
+could work together."</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder took off his glasses. There were red marks around his eyes
+where the glasses had taken hold. He had inherited the famous thin
+nose and receding chin of the Unterzuyders. His pale thin lips worked
+nervously.</p>
+
+<p>"I work alone, Mr. Bailes," he said haughtily. "And I work best when
+such as you try to set your pitiful little traps! Threaten me as you
+will, nothing can keep me from my purpose. And now good-day."</p>
+
+<p>Bigger's voice was filled with disgust. "Your purpose being, of course,
+to find asteroid X and free your ancestors so they can go to work on
+the Solar System again!"</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder glared, primly returned his glasses to his nose, and
+stalked off.</p>
+
+<p>"Scoundrel!" he muttered, putting his hand over his heart. He gasped.
+It was racing. And he was sweating. Trembling. His mother, the
+Unterzuyder matriarch, had been quite right. He should take care of his
+health.</p>
+
+<p>By the time he caught a one-wheeled gyromobile that came bowling down
+the glass street, he was feeling much better.</p>
+
+<p>"Take me to the Hotel de Mars," he told the driver. He leaned back
+comfortably, gloved hands resting on the head of his cane while he
+looked around him. A strange, glass-domed city, set in the heart of
+Mars' desert wastelands. A thriving city, with low buildings touching
+the glass roof of the dome.</p>
+
+<p>The rain-maker went on, the first drops splattering down from the
+overhead sprinkler system. Unterzuyder cringed.</p>
+
+<p>"Driver, driver!" he cried, rapping smartly with his cane. "Do you want
+me to catch my death?"</p>
+
+<p>The driver hurriedly caused the separate halves of the glassteel cupola
+to fold over the car. Unterzuyder settled back injuredly.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>At the registration desk of the Hotel de Mars, he asked for, and was
+shown to the room of, Mr. Nathaniel and Miss Fayette Beecher. The door
+was thrown open by a tanned blonde girl in smart gray jodhpurs and
+slick boots.</p>
+
+<p>Her face at first registered a nervousness. Then it smoothed.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" she sang out, blue eyes widening and taking him in from head to
+toe. "You must be Mr. Straley." She cocked her lively face cutely to
+one side. "<i>Are</i> you?"</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder's heart banged. He bit his lip. This was exactly the kind
+of girl his dead mother warned him to stay away from. Coquettish. Sexy.
+Treacherous, like most females. And he had lately noticed, to his
+dismay, that he, an Unterzuyder, was becoming far too susceptible to
+such unhealthy influences.</p>
+
+<p>"I am Mr. Straley," he said coldly. "Carruthers Straley, founder of
+Titan Settlers, Ltd. Shall I come in?"</p>
+
+<p>"Please <i>do</i>. For a moment, I lost my wits."</p>
+
+<p>She's making a play for me, like all females, he thought.
+Discouragedly, Unterzuyder went in. He sat down on a sponge-plastic
+chair, resting his gloved hands on his cane and looking upon the girl
+sternly.</p>
+
+<p>"Daddy!" she sang out. "Mr. Straley is here!"</p>
+
+<p>A man with a half-bald head and a deep tan lunged into the room
+carrying a heavy rocket-gun. His grin was wide, his voice reedy and
+enthusiastic. He was happy to know Mr. Straley. He laid the gun
+tenderly on the floor. Unterzuyder looked at it distrustfully.</p>
+
+<p>Beecher's reedy laugh sounded. "It's not cocked," he explained. "You
+caught me right in the middle of a clean-and-polish job. That ol' gun
+o' mine's been everywhere, mister. Most of the Moons of Jupiter, out
+on the deserts&mdash;even Africa. Yessir, our exploring expeditions have
+taken us into every corner of the Solar System that's available."</p>
+
+<p>The girl whipped open a drawer in the bottom of a boxy chair made of
+crystal glassteel. "And here's <i>my</i> pet!" She reached in to pull out
+a long-snouted neutron gun with a triple trigger. Unterzuyder's heart
+banged for the third time in an hour. In the drawer was one other
+object: <i>Tertium Organum</i>, A Key To The Enigmas Of The World.</p>
+
+<p>An old book. A musty book. The book from his beloved dead father's
+library. The book that held the Unterzuyder map.</p>
+
+<p>His breath hissed. Beecher leaned solicitously forward. "Anything
+wrong, Mr. Straley?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, nothing," said Unterzuyder, pain wrenching his face. "But I'm
+not a healthy man. My heart&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what a shame." Fayette leaned over him, dizzying him with her
+perfume. She put her warm little hand on his forehead. She held his
+wrist to feel his pulse. She shook her blonde curls vigorously. "Nope.
+No fever. The pulse <i>did</i> seem to race a little when I held your hand.
+Outside of that&mdash;" She surveyed him judicially. "I'll bet you're as
+healthy as a Venusian peat-dog!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, come now," protested Beecher. "If the man says he's got a
+galloping heart, that's what he's got. Think of the courage, the
+idealism, the sheer fortitude of this man, who has gathered together a
+group of settlers to brave the dangers of a jungle-world like Titan&mdash;a
+planet no one has ever attempted to colonize! I personally <i>hand</i> it to
+the man!"</p>
+
+<p>There was a fawning admiration on his unshaven, grinning face.</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder settled back in his chair, feeling put upon.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid of guns," he told Fayette petulantly. "If you'd please put
+it away&mdash;Besides&mdash;" He drew a clipping from his bill-fold. "&mdash;I am
+already convinced of your prowess as explorers."</p>
+
+<p>The headlines on the clipping read:</p>
+
+<p class="ph1">EXPLORERS RETURN FROM<br />
+GANYMEDE ICE TUNDRA<br />
+Father and daughter<br />
+make unique team</p>
+
+<p>"It says quite a bit about the expeditions you two have headed.
+Needless to say, I'm impressed! I am here, of course, to make you a
+proposition."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>He explained his purpose at some length. For several weeks he had been
+engaged on a project dear to his heart. He believed in the future of
+the human race. He wanted to spread mankind's dominion even beyond the
+Moons of Jupiter. Titan had been viewed by only two men, both of whom
+stated it was livable. It had soil. It had vegetation. Also, it had
+dangerous animal life.</p>
+
+<p>"That's for us!" said Fayette stoutly. She accidentally pointed the
+neutron gun at Unterzuyder. She was squirming around on her chair with
+repressed vitality. Her eyes melted on him. He wished he could get over
+the feeling that she was laying it on too thick. That perfume. He must
+not allow himself to be affected.</p>
+
+<p>He cringed from the gun. She hastily put it on the floor. He wondered
+how accidental it might have been. Probably these cheap opportunists
+were perfectly capable of killing.</p>
+
+<p>He would have to watch his step. They had the map, all right. The
+bookseller's description of Fayette had been quite correct and helpful.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately, the bookseller had been willing to accept a bribe not to
+give anybody else the information.</p>
+
+<p>He spoke again.</p>
+
+<p>"When I received your viso-call, Miss Beecher, I at once felt that
+Titan Settlers could work with you. I seriously discussed with them
+the possibility of giving you and your father titular command of the
+expedition."</p>
+
+<p>"Uh&mdash;" said Fayette. "You've already been capitalized?"</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder coughed delicately. "My intrepid settlers are composed
+of young husbands and wives and their children. I was able to sell
+them&mdash;that is&mdash;the magic allure of a new world was really all that
+was necessary to convince them that Titan is where their destiny lay.
+They sold all their belongings, and&mdash;ah&mdash;invested the funds with me as
+Treasurer of the organization."</p>
+
+<p>Beecher smacked his hands together enthusiastically.</p>
+
+<p>"Fine, fine! There's nothing the daughter and I like better than to
+push on into a new frontier. Mr. Straley, for twenty thousand credits
+we're bought!"</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder sat bolt upright. "Ten thousand credits," he said severely,
+"is the top amount we can offer. That is final. With one thousand
+credits in advance!"</p>
+
+<p>He whipped out a check book. He adjusted his glasses. Primly, he wrote
+a check and extended it with a jabbing motion, holding it for perhaps
+thirty seconds before Beecher's crestfallen face turned toward his
+daughter. Fayette was looking with intense interest at the check.</p>
+
+<p>"Why not? Mr. Straley, like you, we're idealists. Money means hardly
+anything. I think you've made a deal!"</p>
+
+<p>Beecher stowed the check in his wallet with satisfaction. "Now we'll
+get busy. Of course, we'll have to have a drawing account. We'll have
+to discuss details, such as the number of settlers to be transported
+so I can buy or charter the proper type of space ship. There's the
+matter of building supplies to be bought&mdash;grain seeds&mdash;food&mdash;a thousand
+details which you can leave entirely in our hands, Mr. Straley!</p>
+
+<p>"And while we're at it, I'd like to shake your hand! It's very few
+people who'd endanger their own lives to further the progress of
+mankind!"</p>
+
+<p>The experience left Unterzuyder weak. He looked appealingly at Fayette.
+"I wonder if a glass of water&mdash;" he said feebly.</p>
+
+<p>Hurriedly she disappeared to the apartment kitchen. Unterzuyder slumped
+lower in the seat, breathing hard.</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe," he told Beecher helplessly, "a shot of whiskey would do the
+trick better."</p>
+
+<p>"Sure thing!" Beecher went after his daughter. As soon as they were
+both out of the room, Unterzuyder got up and pulled open the drawer
+containing <i>Tertium Organum</i>, A Key To The Enigmas Of The World.
+Quickly he unfolded the chart in the back of the book. The map should
+be there.</p>
+
+<p>It wasn't.</p>
+
+<p>He slapped the drawer shut, sank feebly back to his seat. The Beechers
+were gone an inordinately long time. He thought he heard them
+whispering in the kitchen. Then Beecher lunged back into the room
+bearing a jigger of no doubt cheap rye. Unterzuyder gulped it down and
+put the glass to one side.</p>
+
+<p>Fayette was admiring. "For a man in poor health," she exclaimed, "you
+take it without a whimper&mdash;or a chaser!"</p>
+
+<p>"Eh?" Unterzuyder blinked, then drew himself up stiffly. "Whiskey is
+the only medicine my doctor permits. And now, let's get down to the
+matter of the contract!"</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>One month later.</p>
+
+<p>Ralph Unterzuyder was furious. He stalked the darkened decks of the
+trembling space ship <i>Ares</i>&mdash;a slick hundred-tonner with sixty square
+feet of firing surface&mdash;and reflected that the Beechers were making a
+worse sucker out of him than he'd expected them to.</p>
+
+<p>First, they were a pair of fakers. That much had been obvious from the
+start, with that phony newspaper write-up, all that bragging about
+their knowledge of fire-arms when they didn't even know enough to keep
+a weapon pointed toward the floor. Well, he'd expected that much. But
+to discover they did not even have <i>basic</i> knowledge of how to outfit
+an expedition!</p>
+
+<p>They had actually begun ordering <i>lumber</i> for building, until he
+pointed out the climate of Titan might be kinder to prefabricated
+glassteel sections.</p>
+
+<p>They had actually paid out money for seeds, bulbs, and saplings until
+he showed that all farming on Titan must for the present be on an
+experimental or at best highly speculative basis.</p>
+
+<p>Not only that, they had attempted to charter a ship twice as big
+as needed, one that used large quantities of chemical fuels. That
+ridiculous error had been amended with a smaller ship sporting
+atomic gas-thrust. As for the captain and crew, they had been hired
+by Unterzuyder himself&mdash;and, by means of the secret passage of one
+thousand credits from Titan Settlers' funds to Captain Foshag, the
+captain and crew were bought.</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder balanced himself angrily down a companionway. As he
+passed a hanging ventilator, the drum-beat and skittering rhythm of
+a jury-rigged orchestra echoed up from the ballroom. A dance was in
+progress. Unterzuyder smiled sentimentally. Nothing like giving the
+settlers a run for their money.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, he reflected dourly, Fayette Beecher had got the best of
+him in the matter of using the drawing account. Unterzuyder scowled.
+What had got into him? Somehow, Fayette's roving blue eyes and fiery
+touch did their work on him. Next thing he knew, he was in duress,
+being dragged on the arm of that fluffy creature from one dress shop to
+another.</p>
+
+<p>An expense account to buy swirling party dresses?&mdash;with a smidgin here
+and there for fancy explorers' outfits? The memory of his folly made
+Unterzuyder squirm.</p>
+
+<p>He sighed heavily as he came to C deck. Anyway, by his own cleverness,
+he had a ship, he had the Beechers&mdash;who had the map!</p>
+
+<p>And the hibernaculum asteroid, where his dozen infamous ancestors were
+sleeping away the decades under the influence of a potent, forbidden
+drug called somnolene, was somewhere out near Titan. Or <i>had been</i>.</p>
+
+<p>That was the one thing he remembered when, as a child, his father
+showed him the legendary map. At least he was headed for the area where
+the asteroid <i>might be</i>.</p>
+
+<p>And so might, he reflected glumly, that arrogant, impossible Bigger
+Bailes!</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>The Beecher's double-state-room was on C deck. Just as he turned an L
+in the corridor, he ran head-on into a gaily running figure clad in a
+fluffy party dress.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment they struggled in an attempt to regain their balance,
+and when Unterzuyder came out of it he was holding Fayette Beecher
+tightly, and he was kissing her warm little face. She responded just as
+energetically. And suddenly he woke up to the horror of the role he had
+assumed.</p>
+
+<p>He shoved her away. She stumbled backward and there was a glassy
+tinkling sound.</p>
+
+<p>"Ooh, your glasses!" cried Fayette, making a grab for them. He grabbed,
+too, suddenly convinced he had gone blind. "They're broken, Ralph,
+honey!" she said. "You look so much better without them." She flung her
+arms around him again, pressing him back to the wall. Her lips drooped
+disappointedly.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I'm fond of you," she said unhappily. "But you're so darned
+peculiar. You fell all over yourself kissing me. Now you're backing
+off. What's wrong?"</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder was scared. It came as a shock to him that the extreme
+emergency of the situation had given him, by some hypnotic process,
+better vision than he'd ever had. In spite of the darkness of the hall,
+he could see that Fayette was ravishing. She could make a strong man
+weak. Well, he would not give her that opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>Besides, something she'd said just now, something he couldn't put his
+finger on, had subconsciously frightened him. What?</p>
+
+<p>These treacherous Beechers!</p>
+
+<p>Maybe she was using her indomitable weapon to win him over. To what?</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps to cut him in on the map. X marks the spot, indeed! X was a
+moving asteroid. It had been moving for some eighty-odd years since the
+map was made. To find its present location was a problem in celestial
+mechanics. The map would have to be deciphered. Not only that, the
+original maker of the map, being an Unterzuyder, had undoubtedly
+confused the issue by making the job hard even for a mathematician.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally, the Beechers hadn't dared take the map to anybody for
+deciphering. To do so, might have brought the whole criminal element
+in the Solar System after them. That of course, was a little thing
+Unterzuyder himself had arranged&mdash;when he anonymously gave the details
+of the story to the press.</p>
+
+<p>The Beechers had been boxed in.</p>
+
+<p>Now, in desperation, the Beechers probably figured that if Fayette
+could make Carruthers Straley fall in love with her, that he, being a
+lawyer, might have a devious enough mind to think like an Unterzuyder
+and decipher the map! <i>And</i> not betray them.</p>
+
+<p>They did not understand that Ralph Unterzuyder, alias Carruthers
+Straley, worked alone.</p>
+
+<p>They would find it out. And so would Bigger Bailes.</p>
+
+<p>He answered her direct question stiffly. "I shall continue to back
+off, Fayette. Love is an emotion which can be defined in various
+unflattering terms. I would not care to tumble your romantic castles!
+My mother&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Aha! Your mother!" She leaped upon the word with a knowing and very
+wide grin. Then she took advantage of his pinned position against the
+bulkhead to kiss him again, determinedly and hard. For a wild half of
+eternity, his senses were swept away on a skittering whirlwind. Then by
+main force he tore away and lunged down the corridor.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Straley!" There was a bubble of repressed laughter. "I was going
+to ask if you'd take me to the dance!"</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>He did not answer. His flight was precipitous. It was not for several
+minutes that he realized the loss of his glasses had not impeded his
+vision. He leaned weakly against a bulkhead. Very early in life, his
+parents had insisted that the inherited weak eyes of the Unterzuyders
+be made normal with ocular aids. Indeed, powerful, dark eye-glasses had
+grown, over the generations, to be a symbol of Unterzuyder autocracy.</p>
+
+<p>His parents had been wrong.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps they had been wrong in other things.</p>
+
+<p>He shuddered. Without his eye-glasses, he hardly felt himself to be an
+Unterzuyder.</p>
+
+<p>Slowly, memory of his original purpose in ordering Captain Foshag to
+throw a dance came back.</p>
+
+<p>In the ballroom, Beecher would be strutting to win the favor of
+somebody's wife.</p>
+
+<p>With a bit more success, Fayette would have a dozen young husbands
+circling her moth-like.</p>
+
+<p>Intrigue, thought Unterzuyder, and subtlety, is ever the adventurer's
+most potent weapon. The great general indirectly entices the foe away
+from his own most strongly held point!</p>
+
+<p>Several minutes later, he was fitting his pass-key into the door of the
+Beechers' stateroom. He closed the door, switched on the radi-lights.
+The efficiently furnished little rooms were brightly illumined.</p>
+
+<p>The map. Where? Start at the beginning. At first glance, <i>Tertium
+Organum</i> was not in the bookcase. Then he reached in back of the row of
+lurid fiction titles and knew he had guessed correctly.</p>
+
+<p>A little too correctly!</p>
+
+<p>He felt one of the few cold chills of his life traveling on his spine.
+He opened the book and the map fell out. He sat down weakly. His
+fingers trembled as he smoothed out the heavy rag parchment.</p>
+
+<p>A map of the Solar System. He dizzied. X marks the asteroid. Just as he
+remembered seeing it that long ago day when his great father showed it
+to him.</p>
+
+<p>His father, that stern-faced giant in whom the valiant blood of the
+hibernating Unterzuyders flowed, had been most explicit. One of these
+years, the map would be given to Ralph. He would guard it with his
+blood. In the course of time, Ralph would give it to <i>his</i> son.</p>
+
+<p>At long last, the hibernaculum would be opened, the dozen
+hibernating Unterzuyders would be brought to life with injections of
+anti-somnolene, and would once more take over their rightful place of
+dominance in the Solar System.</p>
+
+<p>The position they had been scourged from by a relentless political
+regime which had smashed the Unterzuyders' fabulous tri-planet cartels,
+leaving the remnants in the form of a thousand rigidly controlled small
+holding companies.</p>
+
+<p>The position they had been forced to flee from, leaving only their
+children&mdash;and a hidden map.</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder's fingers still shook. Sweat dribbled down his blonde
+hair-line. Something was wrong. Everything was wrong. The map itself
+was hideously out of scale.</p>
+
+<p>The traced orbits of the planets were circular, <i>not</i> elliptical.</p>
+
+<p>And the map itself.</p>
+
+<p><i>I should not have found it so easily</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Counter-intrigue?</p>
+
+<p>No time to lose.</p>
+
+<p>From his inside pocket, he took the flat little duplico-camera,
+adjusted the frame over the map. He flipped the shutter. Seconds later,
+the map was back exactly where he'd taken it from.</p>
+
+<p>There was only one sound in this quiet room, the tremor of the
+gas-thrust shoving the ship through dark void into the spaces beyond
+Jupiter. Suddenly, there was the scuffle of moving feet beyond the door.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Unterzuyder found himself in the position of a traveler in an alien
+city where savage little children had switched all the street signs.
+Nonetheless, he lunged for the door, threw off the lights in the
+stateroom, opened the door, closed it, stood with his back pressed
+against it.</p>
+
+<p>Hurrying footsteps. Unterzuyder was after the sound.</p>
+
+<p>The big, hurrying frame of Captain Foshag. Unterzuyder grabbed his
+arm, whipped him around. Foshag's hairy, dignified face was wrenched
+with astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Straley," he said uncertainly. His brow clouded. He looked at
+Unterzuyder's grip on his heavy arm and frowned with displeasure. He
+shook off the hand. "I'm not used to being manhandled, sir! You've
+perhaps imbibed too much at the party?" He was being sternly insulting.</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder crumbled. He could be wrong.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;haven't been well. My heart&mdash;" He touched at his chest
+apologetically. It wasn't too far from the truth. Pains in his chest.
+His mother had always assured him the Unterzuyders were prone to heart
+trouble. Just as she'd got around to making him wear glasses. Terrible
+uncertainties were crowding him. He was surrounded by treachery. Had
+Foshag been shadowing him?</p>
+
+<p>Foshag's great frame rocked judicially on its toes.</p>
+
+<p>"If you truly have a bad heart," he said measuredly, "you'd have
+taken the long trail when the <i>Ares</i> hit heaven. We humans often are
+plagued with strange influences. Words spoken to the unguarded mind of
+the child sometimes become fact to the grownup. I'd not worry about
+the heart. And now, the reason I am away from the turret. I've been
+looking for you."</p>
+
+<p>He cleared his throat. "There's a king-sized ship of the Silver type
+on our tail, Mr. Straley. I'm not the worrying kind, however. Worry is
+indeed the prime cause of most kidney troubles, and, besides, beclouds
+the mind when there's work to be done. Therefore, not until I observed
+that the pursuing craft was indeed pursuing&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Come to the point!" Everything else was swept away. Unterzuyder was
+suddenly furious at this big, stupid, philosophizing blunderer. "You're
+trying to excuse yourself for not telling me right away. Let's get to
+the turret!"</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder went at full stride, his brain in high gear. They were
+being pursued. That arrogant Bigger Bailes, no doubt! So what? Add one
+more menace to those he was collecting. In fact, mess up the mess a
+little more.</p>
+
+<p>"Captain Foshag," he said, "you are a well-read man. Ever read
+Ouspensky?"</p>
+
+<p>Foshag nodded his square bearded chin. "A man of vast creative mental
+power, Mr. Straley. A man who seemed able to step off our three
+dimensions and look at the universe from a new viewpoint." Tentatively:
+"You have an interest in the classical philosophers, perhaps?"</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder muttered something garbled. He trotted ahead of Foshag up
+the ramp to the glassed-in control turret, went past several instrument
+men to the viewing disk assembly. Foshag hurriedly got the pursuing
+ship on the cross-hairs. It was a great globoid catching golden-green
+sun on one half, black interstellar shadow on the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Raise it on the beam!" Unterzuyder ordered.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Moments later, Ralph Unterzuyder was looking into the detested face of
+Bigger Bailes.</p>
+
+<p>"That's me," smiled Bigger, his rosy face creasing. "Bigger Bailes. And
+how are you, Mr. Ralph Unterzuyder?" His smile became even more rosy.</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder gulped. He was completely dismayed. Captain Foshag showed
+no reaction at the unmasking. Captain Foshag kept his face turned
+studiously away.</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder felt himself going into a spin.</p>
+
+<p>But he drew himself up and said haughtily, "Kindly keep your inside
+information to yourself, Mr. Bigger Bailes. I travel under the name of
+Carruthers Straley merely because there is an unsavory flavor to the
+name of Unterzuyder!</p>
+
+<p>"Now, why are you following us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Following you?" Bigger Bailes appeared injured. "I'm trying to catch
+up with you. I intend to come aboard&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>You will not!</i>" Unterzuyder yelled the words so loud the crew members
+in back of him half-jumped from their charts.</p>
+
+<p>Bigger's image wavered on the screen as he leaned forward and settled
+back.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't expect such a reaction, Mr.&mdash;Straley," he said. His little
+eyes, almost hidden by fat, were penetrating. "I'd almost think you
+were hiding something. Are you?"</p>
+
+<p>Foshag raised a commanding hand. "That'll be enough of that," he
+commanded. "We're a law-abiding ship. I myself am an honest man.
+Secrecy gives rise to certain nervous disorders which I avoid. If you
+wish to come aboard, perhaps you are taking advantage of some Space
+Article?"</p>
+
+<p>"Taking advantage? If you want to put it that way. Two of my men
+are down sick. The usual spastic seizures. We've run out of ATG.
+We're coming aboard your ship to get some. Article 10b of the Space
+Constitution gives us that right."</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder brushed Foshag aside.</p>
+
+<p>"I warn you, Mr. Bailes," he said thickly, "if you have any ulterior
+motive, such as looting this ship, we will put up a fight! Our
+settlers were chosen for their intrepid qualities. We have guns. We
+have bombs. We have a flare-cannon. You will not find us easy prey!"</p>
+
+<p>Bailes leaned back easily. "Relax, Unterzuyder. As far as guns
+go, we've got our share. And we have got a brace of flare-cannons
+embrasured into the bulkheads of the <i>Space-Queen</i> ourselves, if you
+want to get tough."</p>
+
+<p>He spread his fat hands. "But who wants to get tough? See you
+gentlemen, aboard your ship, twenty-four hours from now." With which
+remark he broke contact.</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder was at Foshag instantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Not a word about my identity," he breathed. "After all, I did pay you
+a thousand credits!"</p>
+
+<p>"And for which I thanked you! Mr. Unterzuyder, I am not a secretive
+man. If asked a direct question, I seldom impair my health by lying.
+Now permit me to return to my duties."</p>
+
+<p>Fuming, Unterzuyder left the control turret, went straight to the
+ballroom. Here, without any hesitation whatever, he cut in on Fayette,
+taking her away from the handsomest husband in the lot. No word of
+apology.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>He held her very close, very tight. He danced with a mathematical
+precision. Even the soul of the dance, he reflected grimly, derives
+from a mathematical formula. The dummy four-piece band haggered out
+its hag-strut very effectively. He was rewarded as Fayette lost her
+surprised stiffness, and began to melt into him in perfect rhythm to
+the tune. Her blonde head gradually nestled into his shoulder, her eyes
+closed, a small, sweet smile on her lips.</p>
+
+<p>At the first opportunity, he swung her without a break to a small
+observation lounge, and in the cold green glow of a million stars drew
+her to him, letting himself be stunned by the warmth of her and the
+drugging quality of her perfume. He kissed her. He was carried away
+into a land of intricate enchantment where Love is All, and the Girl in
+my Arms is You.</p>
+
+<p>She opened her eyes, looking at him dreamily. "I love you," she
+murmured.</p>
+
+<p>"I know," said Unterzuyder.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what your intentions are. I don't care what kind of a
+sneaky, underhanded person you are, I still love you."</p>
+
+<p>He kissed her again. She was crying. Unterzuyder took out his
+handkerchief and wiped away her tears. "Now don't worry, Fayette," he
+soothed. "Everything will turn out all right." He took her back to the
+dance floor. By luck he found the young husband she'd been dancing
+with. He gave her back.</p>
+
+<p>"Sorry!" he said. He gave Fayette a fleeting smile and hurriedly took
+off.</p>
+
+<p>He went to his cabin and feverishly got to work. Plug up the loopholes
+as you go along! A favorite axiom of the Unterzuyders. Now that Fayette
+was in love with him, he could draw on her for any emergency.</p>
+
+<p>Apparently the time was coming when he would need an ally.</p>
+
+<p>He ran the negative through the hypo, put it in the dryer and paced
+the floor. He rubbed at his lips with the back of his hand. He could
+still smell Fayette's perfume. He could still feel her bare warm back.
+Careful, careful. He went to a mirror and looked at his face. Weak. The
+glassless eyes red-rimmed. Thin nose and lips. His spirits dropped. How
+could Fayette be in love with him? Particularly when he was one of the
+outlawed Unterzuyders.</p>
+
+<p>The finished photograph went into the automatic pantograph. He blew
+it up six times onto a square of Mirac paper. He smoothed the new map
+onto the desk. Instantly he saw why at first the map had appeared so
+impossibly distorted. The circles did not indicate the orbits of the
+planets. They were merely a logarithmic indication of the scale of the
+map.</p>
+
+<p>Mercury, being some 43,000,000 miles from the Sun, was the basic unit.
+And that was necessary.</p>
+
+<p>The Solar System could not be drawn to scale unless the inner planets
+were crowded in fractionally close to the Sun.</p>
+
+<p>Here, the positions of the planets were indicated by dots whose
+map-distance from the Sun receded inward in logarithmic ratio to actual
+distance.</p>
+
+<p>Pluto, for instance, being one hundred times farther from the Sun than
+Mercury in real distance, appeared by the map to be only, roughly,
+twenty times as far.</p>
+
+<p>The position of the dot-planets on the map of course indicated the
+<i>exact</i> date of the day when the map was drawn.</p>
+
+<p>The finely drawn X showed the position of the hibernaculum asteroid <i>on
+that day</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Since then, roughly eighty-two years ago, X had moved in its orbit.
+Where to?</p>
+
+<p>That was the problem.</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder sweated. It was said by the Unterzuyders, with possible
+justification, that only an Unterzuyder could think like an
+Unterzuyder. How often his father had told him that. But he was
+confused.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally. The map was meant to confuse.</p>
+
+<p>What were the figures at the bottom of the map?</p>
+
+<table summary="map figures">
+<tr><td>s-1</td><td align="right">   .7452</td></tr>
+<tr><td>c-1</td><td align="right"> -.2020</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>and</p>
+
+<table summary="map figures">
+<tr><td>(0, 3, 2)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>(1, 1, 8)</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>And why, at the top corner, was the name unterzuyder printed <i>with a
+small u</i>?</p>
+
+<p>Nobody but an Unterzuyder would know.</p>
+
+<p>Well, he didn't know.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Puzzled, he paced the room. Tomorrow Bigger Bailes would force his
+way aboard ship. Little could be done to stop him, partly because he
+insisted he needed ATG, a chemical staff of life necessary for muscular
+action, but mostly because he had superior fire-power. Actually, he
+wanted the map. If he didn't get it, he would inevitably loot the ship.</p>
+
+<p>He paused before the mirror, again. Glassless, he didn't feel like an
+Unterzuyder. Looking upon himself naked of face, he cringed. If only
+the whole thing were over. If only he were in the observatory under the
+greenly burning stars with&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Frantically he stopped that line of thought.</p>
+
+<p>He hauled out a sheaf of maps. He had come prepared. He had brought the
+duplico-camera, the film developing equipment, the pantograph, other
+odds and ends. He had a shelf-full of celestial mechanic manuals, as
+well as books on the more ordinary arithmetics.</p>
+
+<p>But he had had only one year of math. Somewhere along the line, he had
+outguessed his patriarch of a father and his matriarch of a mother: law
+had been the result.</p>
+
+<p>Well suited, he had felt at the time, to the trickery, the deceit, and
+the orneriness of the typical Unterzuyder mind!</p>
+
+<p>Anyway, he needed a slide-rule before he could tackle the equations.
+For the present, he would work out the date the map was made. Then it
+would be possible to discover X's present position.</p>
+
+<p>All that was necessary was, mathematically, to rotate the present-time
+position of the planets backward in time&mdash;clockwise, that is&mdash;until
+they coincided with map-position.</p>
+
+<p>The star-maps, the Emphemeris, and the Planet Catalogue should make
+that fairly simple.</p>
+
+<p>After an hour, his nerves began to quiver. He ran his hands
+distractedly through his awry blonde hair. He had the answer. And it
+was impossible. Except that it was correct.</p>
+
+<p>Apparently, the map had been drawn up in prehistoric times.</p>
+
+<p>50,000 years ago!</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>After a virtually sleepless sleep-period, he went to breakfast. The
+settlers were in a happy chattering mood. Titan was only ten days away.
+Unterzuyder ate with the pressure of the Beechers' eyes on him.</p>
+
+<p>Nathaniel Beecher showed quiet menace on a face that ordinarily held
+grinning, shifty-eyed comraderie. Fayette had sullen, angry shadows
+under her eyes. Perhaps she was smarting under a humiliation that
+might make her do dangerous things. He had left her rather abruptly at
+the dance. Unterzuyder bit his lip. Perhaps he had not covered that
+situation as well as he might.</p>
+
+<p>Remorse was an emotion new to Unterzuyder. But then he had suffered
+some kind of mental upset when his glasses shattered under Fayette's
+heel. He could see as well as the next man, and consequently was
+beginning to have some shattering doubts about the wisdom of his
+immediate ancestors. And he <i>was</i> a man.</p>
+
+<p>He gulped. All these were dangerous thoughts. He must continue to think
+like an Unterzuyder.</p>
+
+<p>Something devious. Something tricky. Something that would competently
+accomplish the task of fooling the Beechers, Bigger Bailes, and
+possibly Foshag!</p>
+
+<p>As he started out of the dining room, Beecher lunged after him,
+trailing a rocket-stream of cigar smoke.</p>
+
+<p>"A minute, Straley!" Beecher held him from the door, his close-set
+eyes full of dislike. "Foshag told me Bigger Bailes is back there."
+He jerked a shoulder. "You're a man with many small tricks, Straley,"
+he went on slowly. "Probably you're the most dangerous man I've ever
+encountered. I've been around."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll bet you have!"</p>
+
+<p>Beecher gestured with the cigar, turned on his grin, apparently to
+convince anybody watching that this was a friendly conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"But I'm not letting you get away with anything. We have to do
+something about Bailes. I don't intend to be hi-jacked. Truthfully,
+mister, I don't see why the settlers shouldn't be forewarned. They're a
+decent bunch. We're not.</p>
+
+<p>"In fact," his eyes were boring, "I've known from the first that you've
+been using these people."</p>
+
+<p>"As you have&mdash;and as you've attempted to use me!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes." Beecher's lips moved hesitantly. "You and I and Fayette are all
+three getting a free ride to Titan, aren't we? No expenses. So now
+that we've <i>almost</i> laid our cards on the table, why shouldn't we join
+forces?"</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder drew himself up disdainfully. "I work alone, Beecher."</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah." Beecher showed disgust. "You mean you're working for something
+no decent person would help you with."</p>
+
+<p>"And you mean by that?"</p>
+
+<p>Beecher's eyes simmered. He said nothing.</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder snapped. "I still work alone&mdash;unless forced to recruit
+help. That condition may occur. In the meantime, use some of those
+qualities of leadership an <i>explorer</i> should have. Inform these people
+what's up. Tell them Bailes will probably attempt to loot the ship.
+Line the men up at the arsenal and load them down with weapons. Make
+arrangements so the women and children will keep to the cabins. Can you
+handle that?"</p>
+
+<p>Beecher flushed until his face was bright red.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Leaving him properly insulted, Unterzuyder went to the control turret
+where he cornered Foshag, drew him to the Solar Chart.</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder picked up a pencil, made an indentation at random. It was
+considerably to the east of the <i>Ares'</i> present position.</p>
+
+<p>"Change course immediately. To that point."</p>
+
+<p>Foshag huffed rebelliously. "That won't help us outrun Bailes. The new
+course will but give him a hypotenuse to travel. He'll run us down
+quicker."</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder's lips turned thinner. Muttering, Foshag sat down to the
+computations. On the way out of the turret, Unterzuyder slipped a
+slide-rule out of an instrument case so deftly that nobody noticed.</p>
+
+<p>Another hour's work showed him that the two sets of figures,
+respectively, indicated X's <i>point of origin</i> and <i>direction of
+travel</i>. <i>c</i> stood for cosine, of course, <i>s</i> for sine.</p>
+
+<p>X had been, when the map was made, some degrees below the plane of the
+ecliptic. Its orbit was at a steep slant to that plane.</p>
+
+<p>So what? So the point of origin was located in time 50,000 years ago?</p>
+
+<p>The map was a fake!</p>
+
+<p>He sat at the desk a long time, thinking, and thinking fast. Foshag
+must have known who he was from the first. He was an observing man, but
+he was also a close-mouthed man, who answered only to direct questions.
+And the Beechers knew his identity too. Fayette had accidentally called
+him by his real name. Treachery!</p>
+
+<p>Undoubtedly, Bigger Bailes had tipped off the Beechers, just before
+Unterzuyder arrived at the Beechers' apartment in Marsport. Bigger
+Bailes thought Unterzuyder knew where the map was, but didn't know the
+Beechers had it. Bigger intended to let the situation stir itself up so
+the asteroid's location would more easily come out of hiding.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, everything was wrong. Bigger would loot the ship when he learned
+the map was a practical joke. Taking a ship this far beyond Jupiter
+would have to pay off. And there was nobody to stop him.</p>
+
+<p>What was it his father told him about Unterzuyder techniques? Sell
+short at the top, buy long at the bottom. All events, good or bad,
+could be used to build a firmer superstructure!</p>
+
+<p>Well, face it! Ship's course had been changed. The settlers by this
+time had demanded to know why. Beecher would tell them Carruthers
+Straley was Ralph Unterzuyder, hunting for a hibernaculum!</p>
+
+<p>The settlers by this time were up in arms against him.</p>
+
+<p>He paled. He leaped to the door, listened. Footsteps. Patrolling his
+room.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>He returned to the table. Make use of the situation. Dredge it for
+what it's worth! He crossed shakily to the audio and called Fayette's
+number. Luckily, Fayette and not her father answered.</p>
+
+<p>"Fayette&mdash;darling." The word came out huskily. It was hard to say. It
+sounded real.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Who?</i>" Then her voice was uneven. "You called me darling. Are you
+sure you're in your right mind?"</p>
+
+<p>"I mean it, dear." <i>Did he?</i> "I couldn't forget last night."</p>
+
+<p>He was falling into the self-made trap of the dishonest, unable to tell
+his own truth from his own falsehood.</p>
+
+<p>"All right," she said unevenly. "So you couldn't forget it? So what?"</p>
+
+<p>He spoke softly. Please, he had to see her in his room right away. It
+was urgent. Would she come now? A long silence. Yes, she would come.
+No, she wouldn't tell her father. Positively. Five minutes later
+she slipped into the room. She barely opened the door. He took her
+instantly into his arms. When he figured he had kissed her enough, he
+let her drop limply into a chair.</p>
+
+<p>The circles under her eyes were worse. She looked miserable. He drew up
+a chair, tenderly took her hands in his.</p>
+
+<p>"Look at me, Fayette. I'm going to make a confession that will shock
+you. I'm not Carruthers Straley. I'm Ralph Unterzuyder."</p>
+
+<p>She didn't look shocked. He pretended not to notice.</p>
+
+<p>He told her selected portions of the story. "I suspected you had the
+map. I examined <i>Tertium Organum</i> in your apartment yesterday when you
+and your father were in the kitchen."</p>
+
+<p><i>And you wanted me to examine it! So I'd be sure to hire you and
+Beecher and take you with me to Saturn. That was the reason you posed
+as explorers, so Titan Settlers would give you a free ride to the
+vicinity of X!</i></p>
+
+<p>"I broke into your room last night, Fayette, and made a copy of the
+map."</p>
+
+<p><i>And you left it wide open for me, so I could put my Unterzuyder brains
+to work deciphering it!</i></p>
+
+<p>"And now that I've deciphered the map&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>That shocked her. "You <i>did</i>? But Daddy figured out it was made roughly
+50,000 years ago!"</p>
+
+<p>His heart fell to the bottom of his stomach. The Beechers hadn't got
+over that stumbling block either. He'd made a mistake in trying to pump
+her. He smiled feebly. But salvage <i>something</i> out of it!</p>
+
+<p>"50,000 years," he said druggedly, "seems to be correct&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She was on her feet, laughing half hysterically. "You're trying to say
+the Unterzuyders invented a time-machine? That they aren't hibernating
+at all? After all the trouble we've gone to&mdash;" She giggled. "That's
+rich, Ralph&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Female instability. He held her tightly. A lie, a good solid lie. His
+heart raced. Bigger Bailes. "Of course not, dear. The whole idea of a
+time-machine is fantasy&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p><i>Is it?</i></p>
+
+<p>"&mdash;and it'll make you feel better to know the map is purely
+contemporary. You noticed the ship changed course? Well, dear, we are
+headed toward X!"</p>
+
+<p>She pushed away, her eyes amazed.</p>
+
+<p>"And," he added happily, "you will also be glad to know that you and
+I and your father are going to collect the reward for finding the
+hibernaculum!"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Really</i>, Ralph? That was your intention all along? You weren't going
+to <i>free</i> them? Oh, I was hoping so hard you were going only after the
+reward&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She switched her glance over his shoulder. Pity wrenched her face.</p>
+
+<p>Something hit Ralph Unterzuyder hard on the back of the head. He fell
+straight down ten thousand miles, and lay there for quite a while
+studying patterns of light that squirmed in his head.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Captain Foshag was dragging him to a chair. His tufted eyebrows came
+close. He put a slopping cloth on Unterzuyder's forehead.</p>
+
+<p>He said, "For the time, you're a prisoner in this cabin. I trust the
+experience will teach you some truths. Wickedness secretes various
+poisons in the body, particularly the heart and the liver. Change your
+ways, and you may indeed live a long life!"</p>
+
+<p>The door burst open and Beecher lunged in. His shrewd eyes rested on
+Unterzuyder.</p>
+
+<p>"Sorry I had to bop you, Unterzuyder," he said in clipped accents. "But
+it was the best way to get you out of the picture and keep you from
+talking to Bigger Bailes. You might have messed up the works. As it
+was, we told him the truth."</p>
+
+<p>"The truth?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly. You admitted it to Fayette. That you'd figured out the
+orbit and present position of X. He got the course from Foshag and made
+us turn around toward Titan again. Then he took off for X. So we're
+whipped. But at least it kept us from being looted."</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder ripped the wet cloth from his head and threw it somewhere.
+He laughed. He weaved about the room, holding his head and hooting,
+while Foshag and Beecher looked on with open mouths. Then Foshag forced
+him into a chair.</p>
+
+<p>"Out of his head! Mr. Unterzuyder, please be quiet. That's better.
+There, there! Now we're going to leave you here for your own
+protection, Mr. Unterzuyder. The settlers are somewhat provoked. Do you
+agree?"</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder grinned widely up at him.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sick," he groaned. "Tell Fayette I need her."</p>
+
+<p><i>There's still X to find.</i></p>
+
+<p>An idea had come to him.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>He was in bed, the white cloth on his forehead, when Fayette walked in.
+She looked at him without sympathy. Tentatively, she sat on the edge of
+the bed, curling one knee under another.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sorry if you think I played Delilah, Ralph&mdash;" she began.</p>
+
+<p>He patted her knee delicately. "There, there," he soothed. "None of
+that matters. Actually, we're two of a kind. Not that we're naturally
+treacherous, but that we are indirect, the most dangerous weapon in the
+world. I wanted to discuss our plans. You see, marriage is a&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She gripped his wrist, hard, to make him stop talking.</p>
+
+<p>She said through her teeth, "After this, nothing but the truth!"</p>
+
+<p>Inwardly he groaned.</p>
+
+<p>She went on with determination. "I <i>do</i> love you. I <i>do</i> want to marry
+you. And settle on Titan. The important thing is, do <i>you</i> love me
+and really want to marry me? Are you going to be honest with me about
+things that concern only us? Of course, I don't mind if you're tricky
+with other people. That's life."</p>
+
+<p><i>Well, why not?</i></p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately, he would be unable to use her anymore for purposes of
+finding X. But apparently, he <i>was</i> in love with her.</p>
+
+<p>He held her warm hands. "We'll get married and live on Titan," he said.</p>
+
+<p>She leaned over and kissed him until he thought he'd be forced down
+through the bed.</p>
+
+<p>He added, "But first I've got to get back in the good graces of the
+settlers." When she smiled incredulously, he said with confidence, "It
+should be easy."</p>
+
+<p>And besides, it was necessary.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>As soon as Fayette left, he leaped out of bed and grabbed an
+encyclopaedia out of the bookcase. He looked up <i>Unterzuyder</i>, tracing
+down until he found the expected paragraph:</p>
+
+<p><i>The fabulous cartels of the Unterzuyders were built up through their
+amazing instinct on the stock market. When the market was bullish,
+they seemed to know when the crest was reached. Selling short in heavy
+amount at this point, they reaped millions in profit as the market
+fell, then caught the market again on the upswing. Invariably, the
+bulls were caught short by the Unterzuyder bears. The Unterzuyders
+seemed to draw some special inspiration from one famous interpretation
+of their name, i. e.</i>, undersiders, <i>those who work from the
+underside</i>....</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder sent the book scurrying into a corner. His hunch had been
+right. But now was not the time to work out the rest of the puzzle. He
+dressed quickly.</p>
+
+<p>When he walked into the dining room, where dinner was in progress, he
+was wearing the white bandage pinned around his forehead. He was also
+limping very slightly. Sympathy was nonetheless lacking. Complete quiet
+reigned in the dining room. The settlers kept their faces turned away,
+or looked fixedly at their plates.</p>
+
+<p>Fayette's expression alone showed sympathy. He knew his own face was
+fiery red.</p>
+
+<p>Nonetheless, he told the settlers everything he thought necessary.
+(They knew it anyway.) He apologized. He pointed out deviously that,
+after all, they <i>were</i> on the way to a new world. That much he had done
+for them.</p>
+
+<p>"What you do not realize is that it was I, your leader, who diverted
+Bigger Bailes from looting the ship.</p>
+
+<p>"Quite deliberately, I built up the feeling that the new course was the
+course to X, the hibernaculum of my criminal ancestors. All of you were
+convinced. Therefore Bailes became convinced.</p>
+
+<p>"Had he known the Unterzuyder map was a fake, he would have taken it
+out on you by looting the ship. I sent him off on a wild goose chase!"</p>
+
+<p>Some of the settlers were looking at him with cautious interest.
+Beecher rose at this point.</p>
+
+<p>"I can say something in favor of Mr. Unterzuyder," he said. "His
+intentions were good. Mr. Unterzuyder was only after the reward money.
+He did <i>not</i> intend to free the Unterzuyders, even though he is an
+Unterzuyder himself. And half of the reward money was to go into the
+treasury of Titan Settlers!"</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder looked pop-eyed at Beecher. But now the settlers were
+frankly staring at him. After a moment, they began eating again. In
+several minutes more, the hall was full of chatter again.</p>
+
+<p>After the most uncomfortable meal of his life, Unterzuyder headed for
+the door. Beecher caught up with him, grinning companionably.</p>
+
+<p>"We did a good job, mister," he said. "I had my own reasons for backing
+you up. This thing'll blow over. Then I've got some ideas. You and I
+are sharpies, Unterzuyder. We could set up in business on Titan and
+build up one of the biggest fortunes in the System, eventually. What do
+you say?"</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder smiled wanly and said he would think it over. Then he went
+to his cabin. In two hours, he had plotted X's location to the dot.</p>
+
+<p>Then he leaned back, nibbling nervously at the pencil eraser.</p>
+
+<p>In five days, with good fortune, the infamous Unterzuyders would be
+awake and free....</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>It took him two days of cautious footwork before the settlers
+completely dropped their hostility toward him. Then one evening he told
+them simply that they still had Bigger Bailes to worry about.</p>
+
+<p>"When he discovers he's been fooled, it's possible he might head for
+Titan and try to loot the settlement. We have to be ready. For several
+weeks we'll have to be on guard. The space ship will be camouflaged.
+For awhile we'll suspend building operations.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll be ready for offense and defense. We have three life boats which
+are maneuverable in empty space or in an atmosphere. These life boats
+must be equipped with food, with water, with weapons. I'm calling for
+volunteers to help me with that job."</p>
+
+<p>It was a rude shock to Unterzuyder when Fayette became the first
+volunteer.</p>
+
+<p>By the fourth day, the life boats were deadly offensive craft.</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder paid particular attention to one of the life boats himself.
+Quite accidentally, it became loaded down with extra weapons and
+supplies.</p>
+
+<p>Only one thing bothered him. Fayette was underfoot all the time.</p>
+
+<p>As the time of leaving approached, his nerves began to get the better
+of him. The time, however, <i>did</i> come. At 22:04 on the fifth day, in
+the middle of the sleeping period, he dialed open the airlock door to
+the blister in which the stout little life boat nestled. He closed it
+behind him, turned around. Fayette was standing at the hatch of the
+little ship, slickly dressed in shiny boots, smart beige jodphurs, and
+a blouse open at the throat.</p>
+
+<p>She was holding her pet neutron gun with the snout pointed toward him.
+She was smiling confidently.</p>
+
+<p>"Ralph," she said, "in my hand I hold a weapon. It is not indirect.
+It is not subtle. It does not practice deceit. It does not give
+half-answers. It says 'yes,' and it says 'no'. That's all it says.</p>
+
+<p>"It also <i>gets</i> yes and no answers.</p>
+
+<p>"But don't be afraid of me, Ralph. I'm here to help you!"</p>
+
+<p>He found his voice. "Help me? I need no help! I work alone!"</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody works alone, Ralph. Ask Captain Foshag. Most people run on
+compulsive commands given them by people who might even be dead.
+Parents mostly. Positive suggestion. The mind works that way.</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes people are made to feel they're unhealthy, only they aren't
+really. Or they're told their eyes are bad. Or that they're superior to
+other people.</p>
+
+<p>"It's just as if&mdash;" she frowned hard as if looking for an example "&mdash;as
+if <i>your</i> parents were sitting inside that smart blonde head of yours,
+Ralph, and telling you to free the Unterzuyders from their sleep. It's
+something you feel you <i>have</i> to do.</p>
+
+<p>"But you <i>don't</i> have to, Ralph. I'm here to help you."</p>
+
+<p>He stared at her, stunned.</p>
+
+<p>He drew himself up arrogantly. "Put down that gun, Fayette."</p>
+
+<p>If anything, she held the gun more firmly, and moved it three inches
+toward him.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't mistake me, Ralph," she said, her eyes cold. "This is a yes and
+no game. No maybes or ifs. If you say yes when the gun says no, that's
+too bad. If you say no when the gun wants yes, <i>that's</i> too bad. You
+see how straightforward the three of us are?</p>
+
+<p>"But I and my pet neutron gun will give you time to think.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me how you found X."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>He slumped weakly against the bulkhead, wiping at his forehead with the
+back of a shaking hand.</p>
+
+<p>"There were enough clues," he said hoarsely.</p>
+
+<p>And there had been, at that. <i>Tertium Organum</i>, A Key To The Enigmas Of
+The World, <i>was</i> a key. Its author, Ouspensky, looked at the universe
+from a <i>different</i> viewpoint.</p>
+
+<p>The small <i>u</i> in unterzuyder meant that it was to be taken as a common
+noun.</p>
+
+<p>And certainly the conclusion that the map was made 50,000 years ago was
+itself an obvious clue!</p>
+
+<p>"We made our calculations on the assumption that the map had been made
+looking at the Solar System from the north&mdash;from the star Polaris,
+that is. It hadn't been. My ancestors drew the map from the unorthodox
+reference point of the Southern Cross.</p>
+
+<p>"From the underside. I turned the negative upside down and made a new
+map. Then I got right answers."</p>
+
+<p>"Very good," said Fayette. "The tricky Unterzuyders did live up to
+their name. <i>Didn't</i> they, Ralph?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he said shakily.</p>
+
+<p>The gun wavered. Fayette was blinking. "Ralph, do you love me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes...."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you being truthful? Will you always tell me the truth, the whole
+truth?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes...."</p>
+
+<p>"That's a good boy. Please keep on giving my pet the right answers.
+Ralph, don't you know that if you freed the Unterzuyders I couldn't
+ever look at you again?"</p>
+
+<p>There were angry tears in her eyes. Unterzuyder suddenly remembered the
+time at the dance, when he had wiped away her tears. He should wipe
+them away now. He was weakening. He was an Unterzuyder. He should be
+strong. There was his duty....</p>
+
+<p>"Fayette," he said hoarsely.</p>
+
+<p>"Stand back." Her chin came up. "Answer the question! Yes or no."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you want to marry me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Fayette."</p>
+
+<p>Her mouth opened and closed. Suddenly her shoulders heaved and she
+shook her head blindly. The gun dropped to her side. "Oh, Ralph. I
+can't do it. I was going to ask you if you still wanted to go ahead
+with it. But I can't. I can't force you. You'll have to make up your
+own mind!" She turned away, hiding her face with one arm. Instantly, he
+leaped for her, tearing the gun from her hand.</p>
+
+<p>He looked at it where it lay black and ugly in his hands. He was seeing
+it very well, with his excellent Unterzuyder eyes. It slipped from his
+hand and fell to the floor. He let it lie, and took Fayette into his
+arms.</p>
+
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 66211 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/old/66211-0.txt b/old/66211-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9023484
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/66211-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,1772 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook of X Marks the Asteroid, by Ross Rocklynne
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
+will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
+using this eBook.
+
+Title: X Marks the Asteroid
+
+Author: Ross Rocklynne
+
+Release Date: September 3, 2021 [eBook #66211]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed
+             Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK X MARKS THE ASTEROID ***
+
+
+
+
+X MARKS THE ASTEROID
+
+By Ross Rocklynne
+
+Deep in space Ralph's ancestors lay in suspended
+animation--a price on their heads. They left him a
+map and a problem: awaken them--or collect the reward!...
+
+[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
+Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy
+January 1954
+Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
+the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
+
+
+The Unterzuyder map was out of hiding. Relayed on a grapevine that
+spanned the planets, the news caught on big in Marsport.
+
+Bigger Bailes sat at a beer-bottle-colored glass desk in his underworld
+retreat, announcing his intent to claim the reward money that for
+eighty-five years had been piling up at compound interest in the
+Terra-First National Bank of New York.
+
+"Ralph Unterzuyder is here in Marsport," he stated. "Like all
+Unterzuyders, he's clever and he's dangerous and he's shifty. He'll
+travel the crookedest course you ever saw. At the moment, he's got his
+identity pretty well covered up under the name of Carruthers Straley.
+In the last three weeks he's organized a band of settlers from
+Satterfield City who call themselves Titan Settlers, Ltd.
+
+"Not that I'm fooled! I'm not saying the Unterzuyder hibernaculum is
+on Titan. I'm not even saying Unterzuyder has the map. But I'm willing
+to bet he's got a pretty good idea where the map is. I'm also willing
+to bet that his father died without leaving him a cent, and that he
+organized Titan Settlers, Ltd., just to get himself a free ride out
+Saturn-way. He's capable of that kind of reasoning."
+
+Bigger Bailes smiled rosily and reached for his hat. One of his men
+held the door open for him.
+
+"Right now, I'm on my way to see Carruthers Straley. Maybe he will cut
+in with me. If not--" he thoughtfully rubbed at the fat of his big jaw
+"--if not, I'll help him hang himself."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Ralph Unterzuyder, fourth generation descendant of the infamous
+Unterzuyders, emerged testily from the Glass & Sand Bldg. where he
+had just set up a law office under the name of Carruthers Straley. No
+sooner had he set foot to the glass sidewalk than he was aware a big,
+smiling man had fallen into step beside him. He backed up against the
+wall of the building, his eyes wide and cautious behind dark glasses.
+
+"What do you want?" he snapped.
+
+Bigger Bailes smiled, introduced himself. Unterzuyder looked around as
+if ready to make a break for it. Bailes stood in front of him. He shook
+his head.
+
+"I'm not going to hurt you, Mr. Unterzuyder."
+
+At mention of the name, Unterzuyder smiled arrogantly.
+
+"Really, does one have no privacy? But perhaps one of your caliber is
+well acquainted with the advantages of using an alias!"
+
+"There are advantages," Bigger nodded. "Your advantage lies in heading
+a group of settlers who don't know you're using them to help you find
+the asteroid where your ancestors have been sleeping for the past
+eighty-odd years."
+
+Unterzuyder's cane whipped around nervously. "I know nothing about a
+map!"
+
+Bigger's jowls quivered with mirth. "Seven weeks ago," he pointed out,
+"your father died. He told you the map was hidden in an old book called
+_Tertium Organum_, A Key To The Enigmas Of The World. By somebody named
+Ouspensky."
+
+Unterzuyder's eyes moved desperately to the street, down which a single
+gyromobile moved.
+
+"I have an appointment," he said stiffly. "Now if you will permit me to
+be on my way before they turn the rain-makers on--"
+
+"It won't rain for ten minutes. Better let me finish--if you don't want
+your precious settlers to know who you really are!
+
+"As soon as your aunt heard about your father's death, she put the
+old Unterzuyder house up for auction to pay your father's creditors.
+The furniture went mostly to junk-dealers, the rest to museums. All
+the books, some ten thousand of them, were bought by a big New York
+used-book company, Frangy & Sons, Ltd.
+
+"Half of these books, the ones whose titles all began with the letters
+of the alphabet up through 'M', were kept in their New York branch. The
+remainder were sent to open a book store in Marsport. By the time you
+got to Marsport from Earth, the book was reported already sold--to a
+person unknown. That's all true, _isn't_ it?
+
+"After having failed to find the map, Mr. Unterzuyder, you then sent
+the story to a newspaper--anonymously."
+
+"I did?" Unterzuyder looked arrogantly at Bailes.
+
+"Yes." Bigger's eyes narrowed. "Why?"
+
+Unterzuyder surged angrily away from the wall. "I am not interested in
+your questions. I have my chosen mission in life. It is not the making
+of money!"
+
+He brandished his cane. "I warn you, Mr. Bailes," he cried, "I am a
+nervous man. If I am not permitted to leave--"
+
+Bigger spread his hands, astonished. "Don't think for a minute I'm
+keeping you. The only suggestion I wanted to make was that you and I
+could work together."
+
+Unterzuyder took off his glasses. There were red marks around his eyes
+where the glasses had taken hold. He had inherited the famous thin
+nose and receding chin of the Unterzuyders. His pale thin lips worked
+nervously.
+
+"I work alone, Mr. Bailes," he said haughtily. "And I work best when
+such as you try to set your pitiful little traps! Threaten me as you
+will, nothing can keep me from my purpose. And now good-day."
+
+Bigger's voice was filled with disgust. "Your purpose being, of course,
+to find asteroid X and free your ancestors so they can go to work on
+the Solar System again!"
+
+Unterzuyder glared, primly returned his glasses to his nose, and
+stalked off.
+
+"Scoundrel!" he muttered, putting his hand over his heart. He gasped.
+It was racing. And he was sweating. Trembling. His mother, the
+Unterzuyder matriarch, had been quite right. He should take care of his
+health.
+
+By the time he caught a one-wheeled gyromobile that came bowling down
+the glass street, he was feeling much better.
+
+"Take me to the Hotel de Mars," he told the driver. He leaned back
+comfortably, gloved hands resting on the head of his cane while he
+looked around him. A strange, glass-domed city, set in the heart of
+Mars' desert wastelands. A thriving city, with low buildings touching
+the glass roof of the dome.
+
+The rain-maker went on, the first drops splattering down from the
+overhead sprinkler system. Unterzuyder cringed.
+
+"Driver, driver!" he cried, rapping smartly with his cane. "Do you want
+me to catch my death?"
+
+The driver hurriedly caused the separate halves of the glassteel cupola
+to fold over the car. Unterzuyder settled back injuredly.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At the registration desk of the Hotel de Mars, he asked for, and was
+shown to the room of, Mr. Nathaniel and Miss Fayette Beecher. The door
+was thrown open by a tanned blonde girl in smart gray jodhpurs and
+slick boots.
+
+Her face at first registered a nervousness. Then it smoothed.
+
+"Oh!" she sang out, blue eyes widening and taking him in from head to
+toe. "You must be Mr. Straley." She cocked her lively face cutely to
+one side. "_Are_ you?"
+
+Unterzuyder's heart banged. He bit his lip. This was exactly the kind
+of girl his dead mother warned him to stay away from. Coquettish. Sexy.
+Treacherous, like most females. And he had lately noticed, to his
+dismay, that he, an Unterzuyder, was becoming far too susceptible to
+such unhealthy influences.
+
+"I am Mr. Straley," he said coldly. "Carruthers Straley, founder of
+Titan Settlers, Ltd. Shall I come in?"
+
+"Please _do_. For a moment, I lost my wits."
+
+She's making a play for me, like all females, he thought.
+Discouragedly, Unterzuyder went in. He sat down on a sponge-plastic
+chair, resting his gloved hands on his cane and looking upon the girl
+sternly.
+
+"Daddy!" she sang out. "Mr. Straley is here!"
+
+A man with a half-bald head and a deep tan lunged into the room
+carrying a heavy rocket-gun. His grin was wide, his voice reedy and
+enthusiastic. He was happy to know Mr. Straley. He laid the gun
+tenderly on the floor. Unterzuyder looked at it distrustfully.
+
+Beecher's reedy laugh sounded. "It's not cocked," he explained. "You
+caught me right in the middle of a clean-and-polish job. That ol' gun
+o' mine's been everywhere, mister. Most of the Moons of Jupiter, out
+on the deserts--even Africa. Yessir, our exploring expeditions have
+taken us into every corner of the Solar System that's available."
+
+The girl whipped open a drawer in the bottom of a boxy chair made of
+crystal glassteel. "And here's _my_ pet!" She reached in to pull out
+a long-snouted neutron gun with a triple trigger. Unterzuyder's heart
+banged for the third time in an hour. In the drawer was one other
+object: _Tertium Organum_, A Key To The Enigmas Of The World.
+
+An old book. A musty book. The book from his beloved dead father's
+library. The book that held the Unterzuyder map.
+
+His breath hissed. Beecher leaned solicitously forward. "Anything
+wrong, Mr. Straley?"
+
+"Oh, no, nothing," said Unterzuyder, pain wrenching his face. "But I'm
+not a healthy man. My heart--"
+
+"Oh, what a shame." Fayette leaned over him, dizzying him with her
+perfume. She put her warm little hand on his forehead. She held his
+wrist to feel his pulse. She shook her blonde curls vigorously. "Nope.
+No fever. The pulse _did_ seem to race a little when I held your hand.
+Outside of that--" She surveyed him judicially. "I'll bet you're as
+healthy as a Venusian peat-dog!"
+
+"Oh, come now," protested Beecher. "If the man says he's got a
+galloping heart, that's what he's got. Think of the courage, the
+idealism, the sheer fortitude of this man, who has gathered together a
+group of settlers to brave the dangers of a jungle-world like Titan--a
+planet no one has ever attempted to colonize! I personally _hand_ it to
+the man!"
+
+There was a fawning admiration on his unshaven, grinning face.
+
+Unterzuyder settled back in his chair, feeling put upon.
+
+"I'm afraid of guns," he told Fayette petulantly. "If you'd please put
+it away--Besides--" He drew a clipping from his bill-fold. "--I am
+already convinced of your prowess as explorers."
+
+The headlines on the clipping read:
+
+                         EXPLORERS RETURN FROM
+                          GANYMEDE ICE TUNDRA
+                          Father and daughter
+                           make unique team
+
+"It says quite a bit about the expeditions you two have headed.
+Needless to say, I'm impressed! I am here, of course, to make you a
+proposition."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He explained his purpose at some length. For several weeks he had been
+engaged on a project dear to his heart. He believed in the future of
+the human race. He wanted to spread mankind's dominion even beyond the
+Moons of Jupiter. Titan had been viewed by only two men, both of whom
+stated it was livable. It had soil. It had vegetation. Also, it had
+dangerous animal life.
+
+"That's for us!" said Fayette stoutly. She accidentally pointed the
+neutron gun at Unterzuyder. She was squirming around on her chair with
+repressed vitality. Her eyes melted on him. He wished he could get over
+the feeling that she was laying it on too thick. That perfume. He must
+not allow himself to be affected.
+
+He cringed from the gun. She hastily put it on the floor. He wondered
+how accidental it might have been. Probably these cheap opportunists
+were perfectly capable of killing.
+
+He would have to watch his step. They had the map, all right. The
+bookseller's description of Fayette had been quite correct and helpful.
+
+Fortunately, the bookseller had been willing to accept a bribe not to
+give anybody else the information.
+
+He spoke again.
+
+"When I received your viso-call, Miss Beecher, I at once felt that
+Titan Settlers could work with you. I seriously discussed with them
+the possibility of giving you and your father titular command of the
+expedition."
+
+"Uh--" said Fayette. "You've already been capitalized?"
+
+Unterzuyder coughed delicately. "My intrepid settlers are composed
+of young husbands and wives and their children. I was able to sell
+them--that is--the magic allure of a new world was really all that
+was necessary to convince them that Titan is where their destiny lay.
+They sold all their belongings, and--ah--invested the funds with me as
+Treasurer of the organization."
+
+Beecher smacked his hands together enthusiastically.
+
+"Fine, fine! There's nothing the daughter and I like better than to
+push on into a new frontier. Mr. Straley, for twenty thousand credits
+we're bought!"
+
+Unterzuyder sat bolt upright. "Ten thousand credits," he said severely,
+"is the top amount we can offer. That is final. With one thousand
+credits in advance!"
+
+He whipped out a check book. He adjusted his glasses. Primly, he wrote
+a check and extended it with a jabbing motion, holding it for perhaps
+thirty seconds before Beecher's crestfallen face turned toward his
+daughter. Fayette was looking with intense interest at the check.
+
+"Why not? Mr. Straley, like you, we're idealists. Money means hardly
+anything. I think you've made a deal!"
+
+Beecher stowed the check in his wallet with satisfaction. "Now we'll
+get busy. Of course, we'll have to have a drawing account. We'll have
+to discuss details, such as the number of settlers to be transported
+so I can buy or charter the proper type of space ship. There's the
+matter of building supplies to be bought--grain seeds--food--a thousand
+details which you can leave entirely in our hands, Mr. Straley!
+
+"And while we're at it, I'd like to shake your hand! It's very few
+people who'd endanger their own lives to further the progress of
+mankind!"
+
+The experience left Unterzuyder weak. He looked appealingly at Fayette.
+"I wonder if a glass of water--" he said feebly.
+
+Hurriedly she disappeared to the apartment kitchen. Unterzuyder slumped
+lower in the seat, breathing hard.
+
+"Maybe," he told Beecher helplessly, "a shot of whiskey would do the
+trick better."
+
+"Sure thing!" Beecher went after his daughter. As soon as they were
+both out of the room, Unterzuyder got up and pulled open the drawer
+containing _Tertium Organum_, A Key To The Enigmas Of The World.
+Quickly he unfolded the chart in the back of the book. The map should
+be there.
+
+It wasn't.
+
+He slapped the drawer shut, sank feebly back to his seat. The Beechers
+were gone an inordinately long time. He thought he heard them
+whispering in the kitchen. Then Beecher lunged back into the room
+bearing a jigger of no doubt cheap rye. Unterzuyder gulped it down and
+put the glass to one side.
+
+Fayette was admiring. "For a man in poor health," she exclaimed, "you
+take it without a whimper--or a chaser!"
+
+"Eh?" Unterzuyder blinked, then drew himself up stiffly. "Whiskey is
+the only medicine my doctor permits. And now, let's get down to the
+matter of the contract!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+One month later.
+
+Ralph Unterzuyder was furious. He stalked the darkened decks of the
+trembling space ship _Ares_--a slick hundred-tonner with sixty square
+feet of firing surface--and reflected that the Beechers were making a
+worse sucker out of him than he'd expected them to.
+
+First, they were a pair of fakers. That much had been obvious from the
+start, with that phony newspaper write-up, all that bragging about
+their knowledge of fire-arms when they didn't even know enough to keep
+a weapon pointed toward the floor. Well, he'd expected that much. But
+to discover they did not even have _basic_ knowledge of how to outfit
+an expedition!
+
+They had actually begun ordering _lumber_ for building, until he
+pointed out the climate of Titan might be kinder to prefabricated
+glassteel sections.
+
+They had actually paid out money for seeds, bulbs, and saplings until
+he showed that all farming on Titan must for the present be on an
+experimental or at best highly speculative basis.
+
+Not only that, they had attempted to charter a ship twice as big
+as needed, one that used large quantities of chemical fuels. That
+ridiculous error had been amended with a smaller ship sporting
+atomic gas-thrust. As for the captain and crew, they had been hired
+by Unterzuyder himself--and, by means of the secret passage of one
+thousand credits from Titan Settlers' funds to Captain Foshag, the
+captain and crew were bought.
+
+Unterzuyder balanced himself angrily down a companionway. As he
+passed a hanging ventilator, the drum-beat and skittering rhythm of
+a jury-rigged orchestra echoed up from the ballroom. A dance was in
+progress. Unterzuyder smiled sentimentally. Nothing like giving the
+settlers a run for their money.
+
+Of course, he reflected dourly, Fayette Beecher had got the best of
+him in the matter of using the drawing account. Unterzuyder scowled.
+What had got into him? Somehow, Fayette's roving blue eyes and fiery
+touch did their work on him. Next thing he knew, he was in duress,
+being dragged on the arm of that fluffy creature from one dress shop to
+another.
+
+An expense account to buy swirling party dresses?--with a smidgin here
+and there for fancy explorers' outfits? The memory of his folly made
+Unterzuyder squirm.
+
+He sighed heavily as he came to C deck. Anyway, by his own cleverness,
+he had a ship, he had the Beechers--who had the map!
+
+And the hibernaculum asteroid, where his dozen infamous ancestors were
+sleeping away the decades under the influence of a potent, forbidden
+drug called somnolene, was somewhere out near Titan. Or _had been_.
+
+That was the one thing he remembered when, as a child, his father
+showed him the legendary map. At least he was headed for the area where
+the asteroid _might be_.
+
+And so might, he reflected glumly, that arrogant, impossible Bigger
+Bailes!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Beecher's double-state-room was on C deck. Just as he turned an L
+in the corridor, he ran head-on into a gaily running figure clad in a
+fluffy party dress.
+
+For a moment they struggled in an attempt to regain their balance,
+and when Unterzuyder came out of it he was holding Fayette Beecher
+tightly, and he was kissing her warm little face. She responded just as
+energetically. And suddenly he woke up to the horror of the role he had
+assumed.
+
+He shoved her away. She stumbled backward and there was a glassy
+tinkling sound.
+
+"Ooh, your glasses!" cried Fayette, making a grab for them. He grabbed,
+too, suddenly convinced he had gone blind. "They're broken, Ralph,
+honey!" she said. "You look so much better without them." She flung her
+arms around him again, pressing him back to the wall. Her lips drooped
+disappointedly.
+
+"I--I'm fond of you," she said unhappily. "But you're so darned
+peculiar. You fell all over yourself kissing me. Now you're backing
+off. What's wrong?"
+
+Unterzuyder was scared. It came as a shock to him that the extreme
+emergency of the situation had given him, by some hypnotic process,
+better vision than he'd ever had. In spite of the darkness of the hall,
+he could see that Fayette was ravishing. She could make a strong man
+weak. Well, he would not give her that opportunity.
+
+Besides, something she'd said just now, something he couldn't put his
+finger on, had subconsciously frightened him. What?
+
+These treacherous Beechers!
+
+Maybe she was using her indomitable weapon to win him over. To what?
+
+Perhaps to cut him in on the map. X marks the spot, indeed! X was a
+moving asteroid. It had been moving for some eighty-odd years since the
+map was made. To find its present location was a problem in celestial
+mechanics. The map would have to be deciphered. Not only that, the
+original maker of the map, being an Unterzuyder, had undoubtedly
+confused the issue by making the job hard even for a mathematician.
+
+Naturally, the Beechers hadn't dared take the map to anybody for
+deciphering. To do so, might have brought the whole criminal element
+in the Solar System after them. That of course, was a little thing
+Unterzuyder himself had arranged--when he anonymously gave the details
+of the story to the press.
+
+The Beechers had been boxed in.
+
+Now, in desperation, the Beechers probably figured that if Fayette
+could make Carruthers Straley fall in love with her, that he, being a
+lawyer, might have a devious enough mind to think like an Unterzuyder
+and decipher the map! _And_ not betray them.
+
+They did not understand that Ralph Unterzuyder, alias Carruthers
+Straley, worked alone.
+
+They would find it out. And so would Bigger Bailes.
+
+He answered her direct question stiffly. "I shall continue to back
+off, Fayette. Love is an emotion which can be defined in various
+unflattering terms. I would not care to tumble your romantic castles!
+My mother--"
+
+"Aha! Your mother!" She leaped upon the word with a knowing and very
+wide grin. Then she took advantage of his pinned position against the
+bulkhead to kiss him again, determinedly and hard. For a wild half of
+eternity, his senses were swept away on a skittering whirlwind. Then by
+main force he tore away and lunged down the corridor.
+
+"Mr. Straley!" There was a bubble of repressed laughter. "I was going
+to ask if you'd take me to the dance!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He did not answer. His flight was precipitous. It was not for several
+minutes that he realized the loss of his glasses had not impeded his
+vision. He leaned weakly against a bulkhead. Very early in life, his
+parents had insisted that the inherited weak eyes of the Unterzuyders
+be made normal with ocular aids. Indeed, powerful, dark eye-glasses had
+grown, over the generations, to be a symbol of Unterzuyder autocracy.
+
+His parents had been wrong.
+
+Perhaps they had been wrong in other things.
+
+He shuddered. Without his eye-glasses, he hardly felt himself to be an
+Unterzuyder.
+
+Slowly, memory of his original purpose in ordering Captain Foshag to
+throw a dance came back.
+
+In the ballroom, Beecher would be strutting to win the favor of
+somebody's wife.
+
+With a bit more success, Fayette would have a dozen young husbands
+circling her moth-like.
+
+Intrigue, thought Unterzuyder, and subtlety, is ever the adventurer's
+most potent weapon. The great general indirectly entices the foe away
+from his own most strongly held point!
+
+Several minutes later, he was fitting his pass-key into the door of the
+Beechers' stateroom. He closed the door, switched on the radi-lights.
+The efficiently furnished little rooms were brightly illumined.
+
+The map. Where? Start at the beginning. At first glance, _Tertium
+Organum_ was not in the bookcase. Then he reached in back of the row of
+lurid fiction titles and knew he had guessed correctly.
+
+A little too correctly!
+
+He felt one of the few cold chills of his life traveling on his spine.
+He opened the book and the map fell out. He sat down weakly. His
+fingers trembled as he smoothed out the heavy rag parchment.
+
+A map of the Solar System. He dizzied. X marks the asteroid. Just as he
+remembered seeing it that long ago day when his great father showed it
+to him.
+
+His father, that stern-faced giant in whom the valiant blood of the
+hibernating Unterzuyders flowed, had been most explicit. One of these
+years, the map would be given to Ralph. He would guard it with his
+blood. In the course of time, Ralph would give it to _his_ son.
+
+At long last, the hibernaculum would be opened, the dozen
+hibernating Unterzuyders would be brought to life with injections of
+anti-somnolene, and would once more take over their rightful place of
+dominance in the Solar System.
+
+The position they had been scourged from by a relentless political
+regime which had smashed the Unterzuyders' fabulous tri-planet cartels,
+leaving the remnants in the form of a thousand rigidly controlled small
+holding companies.
+
+The position they had been forced to flee from, leaving only their
+children--and a hidden map.
+
+Unterzuyder's fingers still shook. Sweat dribbled down his blonde
+hair-line. Something was wrong. Everything was wrong. The map itself
+was hideously out of scale.
+
+The traced orbits of the planets were circular, _not_ elliptical.
+
+And the map itself.
+
+_I should not have found it so easily_.
+
+Counter-intrigue?
+
+No time to lose.
+
+From his inside pocket, he took the flat little duplico-camera,
+adjusted the frame over the map. He flipped the shutter. Seconds later,
+the map was back exactly where he'd taken it from.
+
+There was only one sound in this quiet room, the tremor of the
+gas-thrust shoving the ship through dark void into the spaces beyond
+Jupiter. Suddenly, there was the scuffle of moving feet beyond the door.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Unterzuyder found himself in the position of a traveler in an alien
+city where savage little children had switched all the street signs.
+Nonetheless, he lunged for the door, threw off the lights in the
+stateroom, opened the door, closed it, stood with his back pressed
+against it.
+
+Hurrying footsteps. Unterzuyder was after the sound.
+
+The big, hurrying frame of Captain Foshag. Unterzuyder grabbed his
+arm, whipped him around. Foshag's hairy, dignified face was wrenched
+with astonishment.
+
+"Mr. Straley," he said uncertainly. His brow clouded. He looked at
+Unterzuyder's grip on his heavy arm and frowned with displeasure. He
+shook off the hand. "I'm not used to being manhandled, sir! You've
+perhaps imbibed too much at the party?" He was being sternly insulting.
+
+Unterzuyder crumbled. He could be wrong.
+
+"I--haven't been well. My heart--" He touched at his chest
+apologetically. It wasn't too far from the truth. Pains in his chest.
+His mother had always assured him the Unterzuyders were prone to heart
+trouble. Just as she'd got around to making him wear glasses. Terrible
+uncertainties were crowding him. He was surrounded by treachery. Had
+Foshag been shadowing him?
+
+Foshag's great frame rocked judicially on its toes.
+
+"If you truly have a bad heart," he said measuredly, "you'd have
+taken the long trail when the _Ares_ hit heaven. We humans often are
+plagued with strange influences. Words spoken to the unguarded mind of
+the child sometimes become fact to the grownup. I'd not worry about
+the heart. And now, the reason I am away from the turret. I've been
+looking for you."
+
+He cleared his throat. "There's a king-sized ship of the Silver type
+on our tail, Mr. Straley. I'm not the worrying kind, however. Worry is
+indeed the prime cause of most kidney troubles, and, besides, beclouds
+the mind when there's work to be done. Therefore, not until I observed
+that the pursuing craft was indeed pursuing--"
+
+"Come to the point!" Everything else was swept away. Unterzuyder was
+suddenly furious at this big, stupid, philosophizing blunderer. "You're
+trying to excuse yourself for not telling me right away. Let's get to
+the turret!"
+
+Unterzuyder went at full stride, his brain in high gear. They were
+being pursued. That arrogant Bigger Bailes, no doubt! So what? Add one
+more menace to those he was collecting. In fact, mess up the mess a
+little more.
+
+"Captain Foshag," he said, "you are a well-read man. Ever read
+Ouspensky?"
+
+Foshag nodded his square bearded chin. "A man of vast creative mental
+power, Mr. Straley. A man who seemed able to step off our three
+dimensions and look at the universe from a new viewpoint." Tentatively:
+"You have an interest in the classical philosophers, perhaps?"
+
+Unterzuyder muttered something garbled. He trotted ahead of Foshag up
+the ramp to the glassed-in control turret, went past several instrument
+men to the viewing disk assembly. Foshag hurriedly got the pursuing
+ship on the cross-hairs. It was a great globoid catching golden-green
+sun on one half, black interstellar shadow on the other.
+
+"Raise it on the beam!" Unterzuyder ordered.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Moments later, Ralph Unterzuyder was looking into the detested face of
+Bigger Bailes.
+
+"That's me," smiled Bigger, his rosy face creasing. "Bigger Bailes. And
+how are you, Mr. Ralph Unterzuyder?" His smile became even more rosy.
+
+Unterzuyder gulped. He was completely dismayed. Captain Foshag showed
+no reaction at the unmasking. Captain Foshag kept his face turned
+studiously away.
+
+Unterzuyder felt himself going into a spin.
+
+But he drew himself up and said haughtily, "Kindly keep your inside
+information to yourself, Mr. Bigger Bailes. I travel under the name of
+Carruthers Straley merely because there is an unsavory flavor to the
+name of Unterzuyder!
+
+"Now, why are you following us?"
+
+"Following you?" Bigger Bailes appeared injured. "I'm trying to catch
+up with you. I intend to come aboard--"
+
+"_You will not!_" Unterzuyder yelled the words so loud the crew members
+in back of him half-jumped from their charts.
+
+Bigger's image wavered on the screen as he leaned forward and settled
+back.
+
+"I didn't expect such a reaction, Mr.--Straley," he said. His little
+eyes, almost hidden by fat, were penetrating. "I'd almost think you
+were hiding something. Are you?"
+
+Foshag raised a commanding hand. "That'll be enough of that," he
+commanded. "We're a law-abiding ship. I myself am an honest man.
+Secrecy gives rise to certain nervous disorders which I avoid. If you
+wish to come aboard, perhaps you are taking advantage of some Space
+Article?"
+
+"Taking advantage? If you want to put it that way. Two of my men
+are down sick. The usual spastic seizures. We've run out of ATG.
+We're coming aboard your ship to get some. Article 10b of the Space
+Constitution gives us that right."
+
+Unterzuyder brushed Foshag aside.
+
+"I warn you, Mr. Bailes," he said thickly, "if you have any ulterior
+motive, such as looting this ship, we will put up a fight! Our
+settlers were chosen for their intrepid qualities. We have guns. We
+have bombs. We have a flare-cannon. You will not find us easy prey!"
+
+Bailes leaned back easily. "Relax, Unterzuyder. As far as guns
+go, we've got our share. And we have got a brace of flare-cannons
+embrasured into the bulkheads of the _Space-Queen_ ourselves, if you
+want to get tough."
+
+He spread his fat hands. "But who wants to get tough? See you
+gentlemen, aboard your ship, twenty-four hours from now." With which
+remark he broke contact.
+
+Unterzuyder was at Foshag instantly.
+
+"Not a word about my identity," he breathed. "After all, I did pay you
+a thousand credits!"
+
+"And for which I thanked you! Mr. Unterzuyder, I am not a secretive
+man. If asked a direct question, I seldom impair my health by lying.
+Now permit me to return to my duties."
+
+Fuming, Unterzuyder left the control turret, went straight to the
+ballroom. Here, without any hesitation whatever, he cut in on Fayette,
+taking her away from the handsomest husband in the lot. No word of
+apology.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He held her very close, very tight. He danced with a mathematical
+precision. Even the soul of the dance, he reflected grimly, derives
+from a mathematical formula. The dummy four-piece band haggered out
+its hag-strut very effectively. He was rewarded as Fayette lost her
+surprised stiffness, and began to melt into him in perfect rhythm to
+the tune. Her blonde head gradually nestled into his shoulder, her eyes
+closed, a small, sweet smile on her lips.
+
+At the first opportunity, he swung her without a break to a small
+observation lounge, and in the cold green glow of a million stars drew
+her to him, letting himself be stunned by the warmth of her and the
+drugging quality of her perfume. He kissed her. He was carried away
+into a land of intricate enchantment where Love is All, and the Girl in
+my Arms is You.
+
+She opened her eyes, looking at him dreamily. "I love you," she
+murmured.
+
+"I know," said Unterzuyder.
+
+"I don't know what your intentions are. I don't care what kind of a
+sneaky, underhanded person you are, I still love you."
+
+He kissed her again. She was crying. Unterzuyder took out his
+handkerchief and wiped away her tears. "Now don't worry, Fayette," he
+soothed. "Everything will turn out all right." He took her back to the
+dance floor. By luck he found the young husband she'd been dancing
+with. He gave her back.
+
+"Sorry!" he said. He gave Fayette a fleeting smile and hurriedly took
+off.
+
+He went to his cabin and feverishly got to work. Plug up the loopholes
+as you go along! A favorite axiom of the Unterzuyders. Now that Fayette
+was in love with him, he could draw on her for any emergency.
+
+Apparently the time was coming when he would need an ally.
+
+He ran the negative through the hypo, put it in the dryer and paced
+the floor. He rubbed at his lips with the back of his hand. He could
+still smell Fayette's perfume. He could still feel her bare warm back.
+Careful, careful. He went to a mirror and looked at his face. Weak. The
+glassless eyes red-rimmed. Thin nose and lips. His spirits dropped. How
+could Fayette be in love with him? Particularly when he was one of the
+outlawed Unterzuyders.
+
+The finished photograph went into the automatic pantograph. He blew
+it up six times onto a square of Mirac paper. He smoothed the new map
+onto the desk. Instantly he saw why at first the map had appeared so
+impossibly distorted. The circles did not indicate the orbits of the
+planets. They were merely a logarithmic indication of the scale of the
+map.
+
+Mercury, being some 43,000,000 miles from the Sun, was the basic unit.
+And that was necessary.
+
+The Solar System could not be drawn to scale unless the inner planets
+were crowded in fractionally close to the Sun.
+
+Here, the positions of the planets were indicated by dots whose
+map-distance from the Sun receded inward in logarithmic ratio to actual
+distance.
+
+Pluto, for instance, being one hundred times farther from the Sun than
+Mercury in real distance, appeared by the map to be only, roughly,
+twenty times as far.
+
+The position of the dot-planets on the map of course indicated the
+_exact_ date of the day when the map was drawn.
+
+The finely drawn X showed the position of the hibernaculum asteroid _on
+that day_.
+
+Since then, roughly eighty-two years ago, X had moved in its orbit.
+Where to?
+
+That was the problem.
+
+Unterzuyder sweated. It was said by the Unterzuyders, with possible
+justification, that only an Unterzuyder could think like an
+Unterzuyder. How often his father had told him that. But he was
+confused.
+
+Naturally. The map was meant to confuse.
+
+What were the figures at the bottom of the map?
+
+    s-1   .7452
+    c-1  -.202
+
+and
+
+    (0, 3, 2)
+    (1, 1, 8)
+
+And why, at the top corner, was the name unterzuyder printed _with a
+small u_?
+
+Nobody but an Unterzuyder would know.
+
+Well, he didn't know.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Puzzled, he paced the room. Tomorrow Bigger Bailes would force his
+way aboard ship. Little could be done to stop him, partly because he
+insisted he needed ATG, a chemical staff of life necessary for muscular
+action, but mostly because he had superior fire-power. Actually, he
+wanted the map. If he didn't get it, he would inevitably loot the ship.
+
+He paused before the mirror, again. Glassless, he didn't feel like an
+Unterzuyder. Looking upon himself naked of face, he cringed. If only
+the whole thing were over. If only he were in the observatory under the
+greenly burning stars with--
+
+Frantically he stopped that line of thought.
+
+He hauled out a sheaf of maps. He had come prepared. He had brought the
+duplico-camera, the film developing equipment, the pantograph, other
+odds and ends. He had a shelf-full of celestial mechanic manuals, as
+well as books on the more ordinary arithmetics.
+
+But he had had only one year of math. Somewhere along the line, he had
+outguessed his patriarch of a father and his matriarch of a mother: law
+had been the result.
+
+Well suited, he had felt at the time, to the trickery, the deceit, and
+the orneriness of the typical Unterzuyder mind!
+
+Anyway, he needed a slide-rule before he could tackle the equations.
+For the present, he would work out the date the map was made. Then it
+would be possible to discover X's present position.
+
+All that was necessary was, mathematically, to rotate the present-time
+position of the planets backward in time--clockwise, that is--until
+they coincided with map-position.
+
+The star-maps, the Emphemeris, and the Planet Catalogue should make
+that fairly simple.
+
+After an hour, his nerves began to quiver. He ran his hands
+distractedly through his awry blonde hair. He had the answer. And it
+was impossible. Except that it was correct.
+
+Apparently, the map had been drawn up in prehistoric times.
+
+50,000 years ago!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+After a virtually sleepless sleep-period, he went to breakfast. The
+settlers were in a happy chattering mood. Titan was only ten days away.
+Unterzuyder ate with the pressure of the Beechers' eyes on him.
+
+Nathaniel Beecher showed quiet menace on a face that ordinarily held
+grinning, shifty-eyed comraderie. Fayette had sullen, angry shadows
+under her eyes. Perhaps she was smarting under a humiliation that
+might make her do dangerous things. He had left her rather abruptly at
+the dance. Unterzuyder bit his lip. Perhaps he had not covered that
+situation as well as he might.
+
+Remorse was an emotion new to Unterzuyder. But then he had suffered
+some kind of mental upset when his glasses shattered under Fayette's
+heel. He could see as well as the next man, and consequently was
+beginning to have some shattering doubts about the wisdom of his
+immediate ancestors. And he _was_ a man.
+
+He gulped. All these were dangerous thoughts. He must continue to think
+like an Unterzuyder.
+
+Something devious. Something tricky. Something that would competently
+accomplish the task of fooling the Beechers, Bigger Bailes, and
+possibly Foshag!
+
+As he started out of the dining room, Beecher lunged after him,
+trailing a rocket-stream of cigar smoke.
+
+"A minute, Straley!" Beecher held him from the door, his close-set
+eyes full of dislike. "Foshag told me Bigger Bailes is back there."
+He jerked a shoulder. "You're a man with many small tricks, Straley,"
+he went on slowly. "Probably you're the most dangerous man I've ever
+encountered. I've been around."
+
+"I'll bet you have!"
+
+Beecher gestured with the cigar, turned on his grin, apparently to
+convince anybody watching that this was a friendly conversation.
+
+"But I'm not letting you get away with anything. We have to do
+something about Bailes. I don't intend to be hi-jacked. Truthfully,
+mister, I don't see why the settlers shouldn't be forewarned. They're a
+decent bunch. We're not.
+
+"In fact," his eyes were boring, "I've known from the first that you've
+been using these people."
+
+"As you have--and as you've attempted to use me!"
+
+"Yes." Beecher's lips moved hesitantly. "You and I and Fayette are all
+three getting a free ride to Titan, aren't we? No expenses. So now
+that we've _almost_ laid our cards on the table, why shouldn't we join
+forces?"
+
+Unterzuyder drew himself up disdainfully. "I work alone, Beecher."
+
+"Yeah." Beecher showed disgust. "You mean you're working for something
+no decent person would help you with."
+
+"And you mean by that?"
+
+Beecher's eyes simmered. He said nothing.
+
+Unterzuyder snapped. "I still work alone--unless forced to recruit
+help. That condition may occur. In the meantime, use some of those
+qualities of leadership an _explorer_ should have. Inform these people
+what's up. Tell them Bailes will probably attempt to loot the ship.
+Line the men up at the arsenal and load them down with weapons. Make
+arrangements so the women and children will keep to the cabins. Can you
+handle that?"
+
+Beecher flushed until his face was bright red.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Leaving him properly insulted, Unterzuyder went to the control turret
+where he cornered Foshag, drew him to the Solar Chart.
+
+Unterzuyder picked up a pencil, made an indentation at random. It was
+considerably to the east of the _Ares'_ present position.
+
+"Change course immediately. To that point."
+
+Foshag huffed rebelliously. "That won't help us outrun Bailes. The new
+course will but give him a hypotenuse to travel. He'll run us down
+quicker."
+
+Unterzuyder's lips turned thinner. Muttering, Foshag sat down to the
+computations. On the way out of the turret, Unterzuyder slipped a
+slide-rule out of an instrument case so deftly that nobody noticed.
+
+Another hour's work showed him that the two sets of figures,
+respectively, indicated X's _point of origin_ and _direction of
+travel_. _c_ stood for cosine, of course, _s_ for sine.
+
+X had been, when the map was made, some degrees below the plane of the
+ecliptic. Its orbit was at a steep slant to that plane.
+
+So what? So the point of origin was located in time 50,000 years ago?
+
+The map was a fake!
+
+He sat at the desk a long time, thinking, and thinking fast. Foshag
+must have known who he was from the first. He was an observing man, but
+he was also a close-mouthed man, who answered only to direct questions.
+And the Beechers knew his identity too. Fayette had accidentally called
+him by his real name. Treachery!
+
+Undoubtedly, Bigger Bailes had tipped off the Beechers, just before
+Unterzuyder arrived at the Beechers' apartment in Marsport. Bigger
+Bailes thought Unterzuyder knew where the map was, but didn't know the
+Beechers had it. Bigger intended to let the situation stir itself up so
+the asteroid's location would more easily come out of hiding.
+
+Yes, everything was wrong. Bigger would loot the ship when he learned
+the map was a practical joke. Taking a ship this far beyond Jupiter
+would have to pay off. And there was nobody to stop him.
+
+What was it his father told him about Unterzuyder techniques? Sell
+short at the top, buy long at the bottom. All events, good or bad,
+could be used to build a firmer superstructure!
+
+Well, face it! Ship's course had been changed. The settlers by this
+time had demanded to know why. Beecher would tell them Carruthers
+Straley was Ralph Unterzuyder, hunting for a hibernaculum!
+
+The settlers by this time were up in arms against him.
+
+He paled. He leaped to the door, listened. Footsteps. Patrolling his
+room.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He returned to the table. Make use of the situation. Dredge it for
+what it's worth! He crossed shakily to the audio and called Fayette's
+number. Luckily, Fayette and not her father answered.
+
+"Fayette--darling." The word came out huskily. It was hard to say. It
+sounded real.
+
+"_Who?_" Then her voice was uneven. "You called me darling. Are you
+sure you're in your right mind?"
+
+"I mean it, dear." _Did he?_ "I couldn't forget last night."
+
+He was falling into the self-made trap of the dishonest, unable to tell
+his own truth from his own falsehood.
+
+"All right," she said unevenly. "So you couldn't forget it? So what?"
+
+He spoke softly. Please, he had to see her in his room right away. It
+was urgent. Would she come now? A long silence. Yes, she would come.
+No, she wouldn't tell her father. Positively. Five minutes later
+she slipped into the room. She barely opened the door. He took her
+instantly into his arms. When he figured he had kissed her enough, he
+let her drop limply into a chair.
+
+The circles under her eyes were worse. She looked miserable. He drew up
+a chair, tenderly took her hands in his.
+
+"Look at me, Fayette. I'm going to make a confession that will shock
+you. I'm not Carruthers Straley. I'm Ralph Unterzuyder."
+
+She didn't look shocked. He pretended not to notice.
+
+He told her selected portions of the story. "I suspected you had the
+map. I examined _Tertium Organum_ in your apartment yesterday when you
+and your father were in the kitchen."
+
+_And you wanted me to examine it! So I'd be sure to hire you and
+Beecher and take you with me to Saturn. That was the reason you posed
+as explorers, so Titan Settlers would give you a free ride to the
+vicinity of X!_
+
+"I broke into your room last night, Fayette, and made a copy of the
+map."
+
+_And you left it wide open for me, so I could put my Unterzuyder brains
+to work deciphering it!_
+
+"And now that I've deciphered the map--"
+
+That shocked her. "You _did_? But Daddy figured out it was made roughly
+50,000 years ago!"
+
+His heart fell to the bottom of his stomach. The Beechers hadn't got
+over that stumbling block either. He'd made a mistake in trying to pump
+her. He smiled feebly. But salvage _something_ out of it!
+
+"50,000 years," he said druggedly, "seems to be correct--"
+
+She was on her feet, laughing half hysterically. "You're trying to say
+the Unterzuyders invented a time-machine? That they aren't hibernating
+at all? After all the trouble we've gone to--" She giggled. "That's
+rich, Ralph--"
+
+Female instability. He held her tightly. A lie, a good solid lie. His
+heart raced. Bigger Bailes. "Of course not, dear. The whole idea of a
+time-machine is fantasy--"
+
+_Is it?_
+
+"--and it'll make you feel better to know the map is purely
+contemporary. You noticed the ship changed course? Well, dear, we are
+headed toward X!"
+
+She pushed away, her eyes amazed.
+
+"And," he added happily, "you will also be glad to know that you and
+I and your father are going to collect the reward for finding the
+hibernaculum!"
+
+"_Really_, Ralph? That was your intention all along? You weren't going
+to _free_ them? Oh, I was hoping so hard you were going only after the
+reward--"
+
+She switched her glance over his shoulder. Pity wrenched her face.
+
+Something hit Ralph Unterzuyder hard on the back of the head. He fell
+straight down ten thousand miles, and lay there for quite a while
+studying patterns of light that squirmed in his head.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Captain Foshag was dragging him to a chair. His tufted eyebrows came
+close. He put a slopping cloth on Unterzuyder's forehead.
+
+He said, "For the time, you're a prisoner in this cabin. I trust the
+experience will teach you some truths. Wickedness secretes various
+poisons in the body, particularly the heart and the liver. Change your
+ways, and you may indeed live a long life!"
+
+The door burst open and Beecher lunged in. His shrewd eyes rested on
+Unterzuyder.
+
+"Sorry I had to bop you, Unterzuyder," he said in clipped accents. "But
+it was the best way to get you out of the picture and keep you from
+talking to Bigger Bailes. You might have messed up the works. As it
+was, we told him the truth."
+
+"The truth?"
+
+"Certainly. You admitted it to Fayette. That you'd figured out the
+orbit and present position of X. He got the course from Foshag and made
+us turn around toward Titan again. Then he took off for X. So we're
+whipped. But at least it kept us from being looted."
+
+Unterzuyder ripped the wet cloth from his head and threw it somewhere.
+He laughed. He weaved about the room, holding his head and hooting,
+while Foshag and Beecher looked on with open mouths. Then Foshag forced
+him into a chair.
+
+"Out of his head! Mr. Unterzuyder, please be quiet. That's better.
+There, there! Now we're going to leave you here for your own
+protection, Mr. Unterzuyder. The settlers are somewhat provoked. Do you
+agree?"
+
+Unterzuyder grinned widely up at him.
+
+"I'm sick," he groaned. "Tell Fayette I need her."
+
+_There's still X to find._
+
+An idea had come to him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He was in bed, the white cloth on his forehead, when Fayette walked in.
+She looked at him without sympathy. Tentatively, she sat on the edge of
+the bed, curling one knee under another.
+
+"I'm sorry if you think I played Delilah, Ralph--" she began.
+
+He patted her knee delicately. "There, there," he soothed. "None of
+that matters. Actually, we're two of a kind. Not that we're naturally
+treacherous, but that we are indirect, the most dangerous weapon in the
+world. I wanted to discuss our plans. You see, marriage is a--"
+
+She gripped his wrist, hard, to make him stop talking.
+
+She said through her teeth, "After this, nothing but the truth!"
+
+Inwardly he groaned.
+
+She went on with determination. "I _do_ love you. I _do_ want to marry
+you. And settle on Titan. The important thing is, do _you_ love me
+and really want to marry me? Are you going to be honest with me about
+things that concern only us? Of course, I don't mind if you're tricky
+with other people. That's life."
+
+_Well, why not?_
+
+Unfortunately, he would be unable to use her anymore for purposes of
+finding X. But apparently, he _was_ in love with her.
+
+He held her warm hands. "We'll get married and live on Titan," he said.
+
+She leaned over and kissed him until he thought he'd be forced down
+through the bed.
+
+He added, "But first I've got to get back in the good graces of the
+settlers." When she smiled incredulously, he said with confidence, "It
+should be easy."
+
+And besides, it was necessary.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As soon as Fayette left, he leaped out of bed and grabbed an
+encyclopaedia out of the bookcase. He looked up _Unterzuyder_, tracing
+down until he found the expected paragraph:
+
+_The fabulous cartels of the Unterzuyders were built up through their
+amazing instinct on the stock market. When the market was bullish,
+they seemed to know when the crest was reached. Selling short in heavy
+amount at this point, they reaped millions in profit as the market
+fell, then caught the market again on the upswing. Invariably, the
+bulls were caught short by the Unterzuyder bears. The Unterzuyders
+seemed to draw some special inspiration from one famous interpretation
+of their name, i. e._, undersiders, _those who work from the
+underside_....
+
+Unterzuyder sent the book scurrying into a corner. His hunch had been
+right. But now was not the time to work out the rest of the puzzle. He
+dressed quickly.
+
+When he walked into the dining room, where dinner was in progress, he
+was wearing the white bandage pinned around his forehead. He was also
+limping very slightly. Sympathy was nonetheless lacking. Complete quiet
+reigned in the dining room. The settlers kept their faces turned away,
+or looked fixedly at their plates.
+
+Fayette's expression alone showed sympathy. He knew his own face was
+fiery red.
+
+Nonetheless, he told the settlers everything he thought necessary.
+(They knew it anyway.) He apologized. He pointed out deviously that,
+after all, they _were_ on the way to a new world. That much he had done
+for them.
+
+"What you do not realize is that it was I, your leader, who diverted
+Bigger Bailes from looting the ship.
+
+"Quite deliberately, I built up the feeling that the new course was the
+course to X, the hibernaculum of my criminal ancestors. All of you were
+convinced. Therefore Bailes became convinced.
+
+"Had he known the Unterzuyder map was a fake, he would have taken it
+out on you by looting the ship. I sent him off on a wild goose chase!"
+
+Some of the settlers were looking at him with cautious interest.
+Beecher rose at this point.
+
+"I can say something in favor of Mr. Unterzuyder," he said. "His
+intentions were good. Mr. Unterzuyder was only after the reward money.
+He did _not_ intend to free the Unterzuyders, even though he is an
+Unterzuyder himself. And half of the reward money was to go into the
+treasury of Titan Settlers!"
+
+Unterzuyder looked pop-eyed at Beecher. But now the settlers were
+frankly staring at him. After a moment, they began eating again. In
+several minutes more, the hall was full of chatter again.
+
+After the most uncomfortable meal of his life, Unterzuyder headed for
+the door. Beecher caught up with him, grinning companionably.
+
+"We did a good job, mister," he said. "I had my own reasons for backing
+you up. This thing'll blow over. Then I've got some ideas. You and I
+are sharpies, Unterzuyder. We could set up in business on Titan and
+build up one of the biggest fortunes in the System, eventually. What do
+you say?"
+
+Unterzuyder smiled wanly and said he would think it over. Then he went
+to his cabin. In two hours, he had plotted X's location to the dot.
+
+Then he leaned back, nibbling nervously at the pencil eraser.
+
+In five days, with good fortune, the infamous Unterzuyders would be
+awake and free....
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It took him two days of cautious footwork before the settlers
+completely dropped their hostility toward him. Then one evening he told
+them simply that they still had Bigger Bailes to worry about.
+
+"When he discovers he's been fooled, it's possible he might head for
+Titan and try to loot the settlement. We have to be ready. For several
+weeks we'll have to be on guard. The space ship will be camouflaged.
+For awhile we'll suspend building operations.
+
+"We'll be ready for offense and defense. We have three life boats which
+are maneuverable in empty space or in an atmosphere. These life boats
+must be equipped with food, with water, with weapons. I'm calling for
+volunteers to help me with that job."
+
+It was a rude shock to Unterzuyder when Fayette became the first
+volunteer.
+
+By the fourth day, the life boats were deadly offensive craft.
+
+Unterzuyder paid particular attention to one of the life boats himself.
+Quite accidentally, it became loaded down with extra weapons and
+supplies.
+
+Only one thing bothered him. Fayette was underfoot all the time.
+
+As the time of leaving approached, his nerves began to get the better
+of him. The time, however, _did_ come. At 22:04 on the fifth day, in
+the middle of the sleeping period, he dialed open the airlock door to
+the blister in which the stout little life boat nestled. He closed it
+behind him, turned around. Fayette was standing at the hatch of the
+little ship, slickly dressed in shiny boots, smart beige jodphurs, and
+a blouse open at the throat.
+
+She was holding her pet neutron gun with the snout pointed toward him.
+She was smiling confidently.
+
+"Ralph," she said, "in my hand I hold a weapon. It is not indirect.
+It is not subtle. It does not practice deceit. It does not give
+half-answers. It says 'yes,' and it says 'no'. That's all it says.
+
+"It also _gets_ yes and no answers.
+
+"But don't be afraid of me, Ralph. I'm here to help you!"
+
+He found his voice. "Help me? I need no help! I work alone!"
+
+"Nobody works alone, Ralph. Ask Captain Foshag. Most people run on
+compulsive commands given them by people who might even be dead.
+Parents mostly. Positive suggestion. The mind works that way.
+
+"Sometimes people are made to feel they're unhealthy, only they aren't
+really. Or they're told their eyes are bad. Or that they're superior to
+other people.
+
+"It's just as if--" she frowned hard as if looking for an example "--as
+if _your_ parents were sitting inside that smart blonde head of yours,
+Ralph, and telling you to free the Unterzuyders from their sleep. It's
+something you feel you _have_ to do.
+
+"But you _don't_ have to, Ralph. I'm here to help you."
+
+He stared at her, stunned.
+
+He drew himself up arrogantly. "Put down that gun, Fayette."
+
+If anything, she held the gun more firmly, and moved it three inches
+toward him.
+
+"Don't mistake me, Ralph," she said, her eyes cold. "This is a yes and
+no game. No maybes or ifs. If you say yes when the gun says no, that's
+too bad. If you say no when the gun wants yes, _that's_ too bad. You
+see how straightforward the three of us are?
+
+"But I and my pet neutron gun will give you time to think.
+
+"Tell me how you found X."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+He slumped weakly against the bulkhead, wiping at his forehead with the
+back of a shaking hand.
+
+"There were enough clues," he said hoarsely.
+
+And there had been, at that. _Tertium Organum_, A Key To The Enigmas Of
+The World, _was_ a key. Its author, Ouspensky, looked at the universe
+from a _different_ viewpoint.
+
+The small _u_ in unterzuyder meant that it was to be taken as a common
+noun.
+
+And certainly the conclusion that the map was made 50,000 years ago was
+itself an obvious clue!
+
+"We made our calculations on the assumption that the map had been made
+looking at the Solar System from the north--from the star Polaris,
+that is. It hadn't been. My ancestors drew the map from the unorthodox
+reference point of the Southern Cross.
+
+"From the underside. I turned the negative upside down and made a new
+map. Then I got right answers."
+
+"Very good," said Fayette. "The tricky Unterzuyders did live up to
+their name. _Didn't_ they, Ralph?"
+
+"Yes," he said shakily.
+
+The gun wavered. Fayette was blinking. "Ralph, do you love me?"
+
+"Yes...."
+
+"Are you being truthful? Will you always tell me the truth, the whole
+truth?"
+
+"Yes...."
+
+"That's a good boy. Please keep on giving my pet the right answers.
+Ralph, don't you know that if you freed the Unterzuyders I couldn't
+ever look at you again?"
+
+There were angry tears in her eyes. Unterzuyder suddenly remembered the
+time at the dance, when he had wiped away her tears. He should wipe
+them away now. He was weakening. He was an Unterzuyder. He should be
+strong. There was his duty....
+
+"Fayette," he said hoarsely.
+
+"Stand back." Her chin came up. "Answer the question! Yes or no."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Do you want to marry me?"
+
+"Yes, Fayette."
+
+Her mouth opened and closed. Suddenly her shoulders heaved and she
+shook her head blindly. The gun dropped to her side. "Oh, Ralph. I
+can't do it. I was going to ask you if you still wanted to go ahead
+with it. But I can't. I can't force you. You'll have to make up your
+own mind!" She turned away, hiding her face with one arm. Instantly, he
+leaped for her, tearing the gun from her hand.
+
+He looked at it where it lay black and ugly in his hands. He was seeing
+it very well, with his excellent Unterzuyder eyes. It slipped from his
+hand and fell to the floor. He let it lie, and took Fayette into his
+arms.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK X MARKS THE ASTEROID ***
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will
+be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
+law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
+so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the
+United States without permission and without paying copyright
+royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
+of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
+concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
+and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following
+the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use
+of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for
+copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very
+easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation
+of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project
+Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may
+do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected
+by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark
+license, especially commercial redistribution.
+
+START: FULL LICENSE
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
+Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at
+www.gutenberg.org/license.
+
+Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+
+1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
+destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your
+possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
+Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
+by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the
+person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph
+1.E.8.
+
+1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
+paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this
+agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the
+Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
+of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual
+works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
+States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
+United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
+claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
+displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
+all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
+that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting
+free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm
+works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
+Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily
+comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
+same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when
+you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
+in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
+check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
+agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
+distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
+other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no
+representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
+country other than the United States.
+
+1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
+immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear
+prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work
+on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed,
+performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
+
+  This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+  most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
+  restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
+  under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
+  eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
+  United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
+  you are located before using this eBook.
+
+1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is
+derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
+contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
+copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
+the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
+redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
+either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
+obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm
+trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
+additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
+will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works
+posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
+beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
+any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
+to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format
+other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official
+version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm website
+(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
+to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
+of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain
+Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the
+full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+provided that:
+
+* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+  the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+  you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
+  to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has
+  agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
+  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
+  within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
+  legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
+  payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
+  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
+  Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
+  Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+  you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+  does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+  License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
+  copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
+  all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm
+  works.
+
+* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
+  any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+  electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
+  receipt of the work.
+
+* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+  distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than
+are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
+from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of
+the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the Foundation as set
+forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
+Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
+contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
+or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
+other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
+cannot be read by your equipment.
+
+1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
+with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
+with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
+lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
+or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
+opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
+the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
+without further opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO
+OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
+damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
+violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
+agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
+limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
+unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
+remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in
+accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
+production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
+including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
+the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
+or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or
+additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any
+Defect you cause.
+
+Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
+computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
+exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
+from people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future
+generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
+Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at
+www.gutenberg.org
+
+Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
+U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's business office is located at 809 North 1500 West,
+Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up
+to date contact information can be found at the Foundation's website
+and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
+
+Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without
+widespread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
+DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular
+state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
+donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate
+
+Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be
+freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
+distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of
+volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
+the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
+necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
+edition.
+
+Most people start at our website which has the main PG search
+facility: www.gutenberg.org
+
+This website includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
diff --git a/66211-0.zip b/old/66211-0.zip
index 1ae65e7..1ae65e7 100644
--- a/66211-0.zip
+++ b/old/66211-0.zip
diff --git a/66211-h.zip b/old/66211-h.zip
index e97a94b..e97a94b 100644
--- a/66211-h.zip
+++ b/old/66211-h.zip
diff --git a/old/66211-h/66211-h.htm b/old/66211-h/66211-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ca760b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/66211-h/66211-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,1961 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=us-ascii" />
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of X Marks the Asteroid, by Ross Rocklynne.
+    </title>
+    <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" />
+
+    <style type="text/css">
+
+body {
+    margin-left: 10%;
+    margin-right: 10%;
+}
+
+    h1,h2 {
+    text-align: center; /* all headings centered */
+    clear: both;
+}
+
+p {
+    margin-top: .51em;
+    text-align: justify;
+    margin-bottom: .49em;
+}
+
+hr {
+    width: 33%;
+    margin-top: 2em;
+    margin-bottom: 2em;
+    margin-left: 33.5%;
+    margin-right: 33.5%;
+    clear: both;
+}
+
+hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;}
+hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;}
+
+.center   {text-align: center;}
+
+.right   {text-align: right;}
+
+/* Images */
+.figcenter   {
+    margin: auto;
+    text-align: center;
+}
+
+div.titlepage {
+  text-align: center;
+  page-break-before: always;
+  page-break-after: always;
+}
+
+div.titlepage p {
+  text-align: center;
+  text-indent: 0em;
+  font-weight: bold;
+  line-height: 1.5;
+  margin-top: 3em;
+}
+
+table {
+    margin-left: auto;
+    margin-right: auto;
+}
+
+.ph1 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; }
+.ph1 { font-size: medium; margin: .83em auto; }
+
+    </style>
+  </head>
+<body>
+
+<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of X Marks the Asteroid, by Ross Rocklynne</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
+at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
+are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the
+country where you are located before using this eBook.
+</div>
+
+<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: X Marks the Asteroid</p>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Ross Rocklynne</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: September 3, 2021 [eBook #66211]</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net</div>
+
+<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK X MARKS THE ASTEROID ***</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+  <img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<div class="titlepage">
+
+<h1>X MARKS THE ASTEROID</h1>
+
+<h2>By Ross Rocklynne</h2>
+
+<p>Deep in space Ralph's ancestors lay in suspended<br />
+animation&mdash;a price on their heads. They left him a<br />
+map and a problem: awaken them&mdash;or collect the reward!...</p>
+
+<p>[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from<br />
+Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy<br />
+January 1954<br />
+Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that<br />
+the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p>The Unterzuyder map was out of hiding. Relayed on a grapevine that
+spanned the planets, the news caught on big in Marsport.</p>
+
+<p>Bigger Bailes sat at a beer-bottle-colored glass desk in his underworld
+retreat, announcing his intent to claim the reward money that for
+eighty-five years had been piling up at compound interest in the
+Terra-First National Bank of New York.</p>
+
+<p>"Ralph Unterzuyder is here in Marsport," he stated. "Like all
+Unterzuyders, he's clever and he's dangerous and he's shifty. He'll
+travel the crookedest course you ever saw. At the moment, he's got his
+identity pretty well covered up under the name of Carruthers Straley.
+In the last three weeks he's organized a band of settlers from
+Satterfield City who call themselves Titan Settlers, Ltd.</p>
+
+<p>"Not that I'm fooled! I'm not saying the Unterzuyder hibernaculum is
+on Titan. I'm not even saying Unterzuyder has the map. But I'm willing
+to bet he's got a pretty good idea where the map is. I'm also willing
+to bet that his father died without leaving him a cent, and that he
+organized Titan Settlers, Ltd., just to get himself a free ride out
+Saturn-way. He's capable of that kind of reasoning."</p>
+
+<p>Bigger Bailes smiled rosily and reached for his hat. One of his men
+held the door open for him.</p>
+
+<p>"Right now, I'm on my way to see Carruthers Straley. Maybe he will cut
+in with me. If not&mdash;" he thoughtfully rubbed at the fat of his big jaw
+"&mdash;if not, I'll help him hang himself."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Ralph Unterzuyder, fourth generation descendant of the infamous
+Unterzuyders, emerged testily from the Glass &amp; Sand Bldg. where he
+had just set up a law office under the name of Carruthers Straley. No
+sooner had he set foot to the glass sidewalk than he was aware a big,
+smiling man had fallen into step beside him. He backed up against the
+wall of the building, his eyes wide and cautious behind dark glasses.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want?" he snapped.</p>
+
+<p>Bigger Bailes smiled, introduced himself. Unterzuyder looked around as
+if ready to make a break for it. Bailes stood in front of him. He shook
+his head.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not going to hurt you, Mr. Unterzuyder."</p>
+
+<p>At mention of the name, Unterzuyder smiled arrogantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Really, does one have no privacy? But perhaps one of your caliber is
+well acquainted with the advantages of using an alias!"</p>
+
+<p>"There are advantages," Bigger nodded. "Your advantage lies in heading
+a group of settlers who don't know you're using them to help you find
+the asteroid where your ancestors have been sleeping for the past
+eighty-odd years."</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder's cane whipped around nervously. "I know nothing about a
+map!"</p>
+
+<p>Bigger's jowls quivered with mirth. "Seven weeks ago," he pointed out,
+"your father died. He told you the map was hidden in an old book called
+<i>Tertium Organum</i>, A Key To The Enigmas Of The World. By somebody named
+Ouspensky."</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder's eyes moved desperately to the street, down which a single
+gyromobile moved.</p>
+
+<p>"I have an appointment," he said stiffly. "Now if you will permit me to
+be on my way before they turn the rain-makers on&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"It won't rain for ten minutes. Better let me finish&mdash;if you don't want
+your precious settlers to know who you really are!</p>
+
+<p>"As soon as your aunt heard about your father's death, she put the
+old Unterzuyder house up for auction to pay your father's creditors.
+The furniture went mostly to junk-dealers, the rest to museums. All
+the books, some ten thousand of them, were bought by a big New York
+used-book company, Frangy &amp; Sons, Ltd.</p>
+
+<p>"Half of these books, the ones whose titles all began with the letters
+of the alphabet up through 'M', were kept in their New York branch. The
+remainder were sent to open a book store in Marsport. By the time you
+got to Marsport from Earth, the book was reported already sold&mdash;to a
+person unknown. That's all true, <i>isn't</i> it?</p>
+
+<p>"After having failed to find the map, Mr. Unterzuyder, you then sent
+the story to a newspaper&mdash;anonymously."</p>
+
+<p>"I did?" Unterzuyder looked arrogantly at Bailes.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes." Bigger's eyes narrowed. "Why?"</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder surged angrily away from the wall. "I am not interested in
+your questions. I have my chosen mission in life. It is not the making
+of money!"</p>
+
+<p>He brandished his cane. "I warn you, Mr. Bailes," he cried, "I am a
+nervous man. If I am not permitted to leave&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Bigger spread his hands, astonished. "Don't think for a minute I'm
+keeping you. The only suggestion I wanted to make was that you and I
+could work together."</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder took off his glasses. There were red marks around his eyes
+where the glasses had taken hold. He had inherited the famous thin
+nose and receding chin of the Unterzuyders. His pale thin lips worked
+nervously.</p>
+
+<p>"I work alone, Mr. Bailes," he said haughtily. "And I work best when
+such as you try to set your pitiful little traps! Threaten me as you
+will, nothing can keep me from my purpose. And now good-day."</p>
+
+<p>Bigger's voice was filled with disgust. "Your purpose being, of course,
+to find asteroid X and free your ancestors so they can go to work on
+the Solar System again!"</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder glared, primly returned his glasses to his nose, and
+stalked off.</p>
+
+<p>"Scoundrel!" he muttered, putting his hand over his heart. He gasped.
+It was racing. And he was sweating. Trembling. His mother, the
+Unterzuyder matriarch, had been quite right. He should take care of his
+health.</p>
+
+<p>By the time he caught a one-wheeled gyromobile that came bowling down
+the glass street, he was feeling much better.</p>
+
+<p>"Take me to the Hotel de Mars," he told the driver. He leaned back
+comfortably, gloved hands resting on the head of his cane while he
+looked around him. A strange, glass-domed city, set in the heart of
+Mars' desert wastelands. A thriving city, with low buildings touching
+the glass roof of the dome.</p>
+
+<p>The rain-maker went on, the first drops splattering down from the
+overhead sprinkler system. Unterzuyder cringed.</p>
+
+<p>"Driver, driver!" he cried, rapping smartly with his cane. "Do you want
+me to catch my death?"</p>
+
+<p>The driver hurriedly caused the separate halves of the glassteel cupola
+to fold over the car. Unterzuyder settled back injuredly.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>At the registration desk of the Hotel de Mars, he asked for, and was
+shown to the room of, Mr. Nathaniel and Miss Fayette Beecher. The door
+was thrown open by a tanned blonde girl in smart gray jodhpurs and
+slick boots.</p>
+
+<p>Her face at first registered a nervousness. Then it smoothed.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" she sang out, blue eyes widening and taking him in from head to
+toe. "You must be Mr. Straley." She cocked her lively face cutely to
+one side. "<i>Are</i> you?"</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder's heart banged. He bit his lip. This was exactly the kind
+of girl his dead mother warned him to stay away from. Coquettish. Sexy.
+Treacherous, like most females. And he had lately noticed, to his
+dismay, that he, an Unterzuyder, was becoming far too susceptible to
+such unhealthy influences.</p>
+
+<p>"I am Mr. Straley," he said coldly. "Carruthers Straley, founder of
+Titan Settlers, Ltd. Shall I come in?"</p>
+
+<p>"Please <i>do</i>. For a moment, I lost my wits."</p>
+
+<p>She's making a play for me, like all females, he thought.
+Discouragedly, Unterzuyder went in. He sat down on a sponge-plastic
+chair, resting his gloved hands on his cane and looking upon the girl
+sternly.</p>
+
+<p>"Daddy!" she sang out. "Mr. Straley is here!"</p>
+
+<p>A man with a half-bald head and a deep tan lunged into the room
+carrying a heavy rocket-gun. His grin was wide, his voice reedy and
+enthusiastic. He was happy to know Mr. Straley. He laid the gun
+tenderly on the floor. Unterzuyder looked at it distrustfully.</p>
+
+<p>Beecher's reedy laugh sounded. "It's not cocked," he explained. "You
+caught me right in the middle of a clean-and-polish job. That ol' gun
+o' mine's been everywhere, mister. Most of the Moons of Jupiter, out
+on the deserts&mdash;even Africa. Yessir, our exploring expeditions have
+taken us into every corner of the Solar System that's available."</p>
+
+<p>The girl whipped open a drawer in the bottom of a boxy chair made of
+crystal glassteel. "And here's <i>my</i> pet!" She reached in to pull out
+a long-snouted neutron gun with a triple trigger. Unterzuyder's heart
+banged for the third time in an hour. In the drawer was one other
+object: <i>Tertium Organum</i>, A Key To The Enigmas Of The World.</p>
+
+<p>An old book. A musty book. The book from his beloved dead father's
+library. The book that held the Unterzuyder map.</p>
+
+<p>His breath hissed. Beecher leaned solicitously forward. "Anything
+wrong, Mr. Straley?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, nothing," said Unterzuyder, pain wrenching his face. "But I'm
+not a healthy man. My heart&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what a shame." Fayette leaned over him, dizzying him with her
+perfume. She put her warm little hand on his forehead. She held his
+wrist to feel his pulse. She shook her blonde curls vigorously. "Nope.
+No fever. The pulse <i>did</i> seem to race a little when I held your hand.
+Outside of that&mdash;" She surveyed him judicially. "I'll bet you're as
+healthy as a Venusian peat-dog!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, come now," protested Beecher. "If the man says he's got a
+galloping heart, that's what he's got. Think of the courage, the
+idealism, the sheer fortitude of this man, who has gathered together a
+group of settlers to brave the dangers of a jungle-world like Titan&mdash;a
+planet no one has ever attempted to colonize! I personally <i>hand</i> it to
+the man!"</p>
+
+<p>There was a fawning admiration on his unshaven, grinning face.</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder settled back in his chair, feeling put upon.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid of guns," he told Fayette petulantly. "If you'd please put
+it away&mdash;Besides&mdash;" He drew a clipping from his bill-fold. "&mdash;I am
+already convinced of your prowess as explorers."</p>
+
+<p>The headlines on the clipping read:</p>
+
+<p class="ph1">EXPLORERS RETURN FROM<br />
+GANYMEDE ICE TUNDRA<br />
+Father and daughter<br />
+make unique team</p>
+
+<p>"It says quite a bit about the expeditions you two have headed.
+Needless to say, I'm impressed! I am here, of course, to make you a
+proposition."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>He explained his purpose at some length. For several weeks he had been
+engaged on a project dear to his heart. He believed in the future of
+the human race. He wanted to spread mankind's dominion even beyond the
+Moons of Jupiter. Titan had been viewed by only two men, both of whom
+stated it was livable. It had soil. It had vegetation. Also, it had
+dangerous animal life.</p>
+
+<p>"That's for us!" said Fayette stoutly. She accidentally pointed the
+neutron gun at Unterzuyder. She was squirming around on her chair with
+repressed vitality. Her eyes melted on him. He wished he could get over
+the feeling that she was laying it on too thick. That perfume. He must
+not allow himself to be affected.</p>
+
+<p>He cringed from the gun. She hastily put it on the floor. He wondered
+how accidental it might have been. Probably these cheap opportunists
+were perfectly capable of killing.</p>
+
+<p>He would have to watch his step. They had the map, all right. The
+bookseller's description of Fayette had been quite correct and helpful.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately, the bookseller had been willing to accept a bribe not to
+give anybody else the information.</p>
+
+<p>He spoke again.</p>
+
+<p>"When I received your viso-call, Miss Beecher, I at once felt that
+Titan Settlers could work with you. I seriously discussed with them
+the possibility of giving you and your father titular command of the
+expedition."</p>
+
+<p>"Uh&mdash;" said Fayette. "You've already been capitalized?"</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder coughed delicately. "My intrepid settlers are composed
+of young husbands and wives and their children. I was able to sell
+them&mdash;that is&mdash;the magic allure of a new world was really all that
+was necessary to convince them that Titan is where their destiny lay.
+They sold all their belongings, and&mdash;ah&mdash;invested the funds with me as
+Treasurer of the organization."</p>
+
+<p>Beecher smacked his hands together enthusiastically.</p>
+
+<p>"Fine, fine! There's nothing the daughter and I like better than to
+push on into a new frontier. Mr. Straley, for twenty thousand credits
+we're bought!"</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder sat bolt upright. "Ten thousand credits," he said severely,
+"is the top amount we can offer. That is final. With one thousand
+credits in advance!"</p>
+
+<p>He whipped out a check book. He adjusted his glasses. Primly, he wrote
+a check and extended it with a jabbing motion, holding it for perhaps
+thirty seconds before Beecher's crestfallen face turned toward his
+daughter. Fayette was looking with intense interest at the check.</p>
+
+<p>"Why not? Mr. Straley, like you, we're idealists. Money means hardly
+anything. I think you've made a deal!"</p>
+
+<p>Beecher stowed the check in his wallet with satisfaction. "Now we'll
+get busy. Of course, we'll have to have a drawing account. We'll have
+to discuss details, such as the number of settlers to be transported
+so I can buy or charter the proper type of space ship. There's the
+matter of building supplies to be bought&mdash;grain seeds&mdash;food&mdash;a thousand
+details which you can leave entirely in our hands, Mr. Straley!</p>
+
+<p>"And while we're at it, I'd like to shake your hand! It's very few
+people who'd endanger their own lives to further the progress of
+mankind!"</p>
+
+<p>The experience left Unterzuyder weak. He looked appealingly at Fayette.
+"I wonder if a glass of water&mdash;" he said feebly.</p>
+
+<p>Hurriedly she disappeared to the apartment kitchen. Unterzuyder slumped
+lower in the seat, breathing hard.</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe," he told Beecher helplessly, "a shot of whiskey would do the
+trick better."</p>
+
+<p>"Sure thing!" Beecher went after his daughter. As soon as they were
+both out of the room, Unterzuyder got up and pulled open the drawer
+containing <i>Tertium Organum</i>, A Key To The Enigmas Of The World.
+Quickly he unfolded the chart in the back of the book. The map should
+be there.</p>
+
+<p>It wasn't.</p>
+
+<p>He slapped the drawer shut, sank feebly back to his seat. The Beechers
+were gone an inordinately long time. He thought he heard them
+whispering in the kitchen. Then Beecher lunged back into the room
+bearing a jigger of no doubt cheap rye. Unterzuyder gulped it down and
+put the glass to one side.</p>
+
+<p>Fayette was admiring. "For a man in poor health," she exclaimed, "you
+take it without a whimper&mdash;or a chaser!"</p>
+
+<p>"Eh?" Unterzuyder blinked, then drew himself up stiffly. "Whiskey is
+the only medicine my doctor permits. And now, let's get down to the
+matter of the contract!"</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>One month later.</p>
+
+<p>Ralph Unterzuyder was furious. He stalked the darkened decks of the
+trembling space ship <i>Ares</i>&mdash;a slick hundred-tonner with sixty square
+feet of firing surface&mdash;and reflected that the Beechers were making a
+worse sucker out of him than he'd expected them to.</p>
+
+<p>First, they were a pair of fakers. That much had been obvious from the
+start, with that phony newspaper write-up, all that bragging about
+their knowledge of fire-arms when they didn't even know enough to keep
+a weapon pointed toward the floor. Well, he'd expected that much. But
+to discover they did not even have <i>basic</i> knowledge of how to outfit
+an expedition!</p>
+
+<p>They had actually begun ordering <i>lumber</i> for building, until he
+pointed out the climate of Titan might be kinder to prefabricated
+glassteel sections.</p>
+
+<p>They had actually paid out money for seeds, bulbs, and saplings until
+he showed that all farming on Titan must for the present be on an
+experimental or at best highly speculative basis.</p>
+
+<p>Not only that, they had attempted to charter a ship twice as big
+as needed, one that used large quantities of chemical fuels. That
+ridiculous error had been amended with a smaller ship sporting
+atomic gas-thrust. As for the captain and crew, they had been hired
+by Unterzuyder himself&mdash;and, by means of the secret passage of one
+thousand credits from Titan Settlers' funds to Captain Foshag, the
+captain and crew were bought.</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder balanced himself angrily down a companionway. As he
+passed a hanging ventilator, the drum-beat and skittering rhythm of
+a jury-rigged orchestra echoed up from the ballroom. A dance was in
+progress. Unterzuyder smiled sentimentally. Nothing like giving the
+settlers a run for their money.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, he reflected dourly, Fayette Beecher had got the best of
+him in the matter of using the drawing account. Unterzuyder scowled.
+What had got into him? Somehow, Fayette's roving blue eyes and fiery
+touch did their work on him. Next thing he knew, he was in duress,
+being dragged on the arm of that fluffy creature from one dress shop to
+another.</p>
+
+<p>An expense account to buy swirling party dresses?&mdash;with a smidgin here
+and there for fancy explorers' outfits? The memory of his folly made
+Unterzuyder squirm.</p>
+
+<p>He sighed heavily as he came to C deck. Anyway, by his own cleverness,
+he had a ship, he had the Beechers&mdash;who had the map!</p>
+
+<p>And the hibernaculum asteroid, where his dozen infamous ancestors were
+sleeping away the decades under the influence of a potent, forbidden
+drug called somnolene, was somewhere out near Titan. Or <i>had been</i>.</p>
+
+<p>That was the one thing he remembered when, as a child, his father
+showed him the legendary map. At least he was headed for the area where
+the asteroid <i>might be</i>.</p>
+
+<p>And so might, he reflected glumly, that arrogant, impossible Bigger
+Bailes!</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>The Beecher's double-state-room was on C deck. Just as he turned an L
+in the corridor, he ran head-on into a gaily running figure clad in a
+fluffy party dress.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment they struggled in an attempt to regain their balance,
+and when Unterzuyder came out of it he was holding Fayette Beecher
+tightly, and he was kissing her warm little face. She responded just as
+energetically. And suddenly he woke up to the horror of the role he had
+assumed.</p>
+
+<p>He shoved her away. She stumbled backward and there was a glassy
+tinkling sound.</p>
+
+<p>"Ooh, your glasses!" cried Fayette, making a grab for them. He grabbed,
+too, suddenly convinced he had gone blind. "They're broken, Ralph,
+honey!" she said. "You look so much better without them." She flung her
+arms around him again, pressing him back to the wall. Her lips drooped
+disappointedly.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I'm fond of you," she said unhappily. "But you're so darned
+peculiar. You fell all over yourself kissing me. Now you're backing
+off. What's wrong?"</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder was scared. It came as a shock to him that the extreme
+emergency of the situation had given him, by some hypnotic process,
+better vision than he'd ever had. In spite of the darkness of the hall,
+he could see that Fayette was ravishing. She could make a strong man
+weak. Well, he would not give her that opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>Besides, something she'd said just now, something he couldn't put his
+finger on, had subconsciously frightened him. What?</p>
+
+<p>These treacherous Beechers!</p>
+
+<p>Maybe she was using her indomitable weapon to win him over. To what?</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps to cut him in on the map. X marks the spot, indeed! X was a
+moving asteroid. It had been moving for some eighty-odd years since the
+map was made. To find its present location was a problem in celestial
+mechanics. The map would have to be deciphered. Not only that, the
+original maker of the map, being an Unterzuyder, had undoubtedly
+confused the issue by making the job hard even for a mathematician.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally, the Beechers hadn't dared take the map to anybody for
+deciphering. To do so, might have brought the whole criminal element
+in the Solar System after them. That of course, was a little thing
+Unterzuyder himself had arranged&mdash;when he anonymously gave the details
+of the story to the press.</p>
+
+<p>The Beechers had been boxed in.</p>
+
+<p>Now, in desperation, the Beechers probably figured that if Fayette
+could make Carruthers Straley fall in love with her, that he, being a
+lawyer, might have a devious enough mind to think like an Unterzuyder
+and decipher the map! <i>And</i> not betray them.</p>
+
+<p>They did not understand that Ralph Unterzuyder, alias Carruthers
+Straley, worked alone.</p>
+
+<p>They would find it out. And so would Bigger Bailes.</p>
+
+<p>He answered her direct question stiffly. "I shall continue to back
+off, Fayette. Love is an emotion which can be defined in various
+unflattering terms. I would not care to tumble your romantic castles!
+My mother&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Aha! Your mother!" She leaped upon the word with a knowing and very
+wide grin. Then she took advantage of his pinned position against the
+bulkhead to kiss him again, determinedly and hard. For a wild half of
+eternity, his senses were swept away on a skittering whirlwind. Then by
+main force he tore away and lunged down the corridor.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Straley!" There was a bubble of repressed laughter. "I was going
+to ask if you'd take me to the dance!"</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>He did not answer. His flight was precipitous. It was not for several
+minutes that he realized the loss of his glasses had not impeded his
+vision. He leaned weakly against a bulkhead. Very early in life, his
+parents had insisted that the inherited weak eyes of the Unterzuyders
+be made normal with ocular aids. Indeed, powerful, dark eye-glasses had
+grown, over the generations, to be a symbol of Unterzuyder autocracy.</p>
+
+<p>His parents had been wrong.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps they had been wrong in other things.</p>
+
+<p>He shuddered. Without his eye-glasses, he hardly felt himself to be an
+Unterzuyder.</p>
+
+<p>Slowly, memory of his original purpose in ordering Captain Foshag to
+throw a dance came back.</p>
+
+<p>In the ballroom, Beecher would be strutting to win the favor of
+somebody's wife.</p>
+
+<p>With a bit more success, Fayette would have a dozen young husbands
+circling her moth-like.</p>
+
+<p>Intrigue, thought Unterzuyder, and subtlety, is ever the adventurer's
+most potent weapon. The great general indirectly entices the foe away
+from his own most strongly held point!</p>
+
+<p>Several minutes later, he was fitting his pass-key into the door of the
+Beechers' stateroom. He closed the door, switched on the radi-lights.
+The efficiently furnished little rooms were brightly illumined.</p>
+
+<p>The map. Where? Start at the beginning. At first glance, <i>Tertium
+Organum</i> was not in the bookcase. Then he reached in back of the row of
+lurid fiction titles and knew he had guessed correctly.</p>
+
+<p>A little too correctly!</p>
+
+<p>He felt one of the few cold chills of his life traveling on his spine.
+He opened the book and the map fell out. He sat down weakly. His
+fingers trembled as he smoothed out the heavy rag parchment.</p>
+
+<p>A map of the Solar System. He dizzied. X marks the asteroid. Just as he
+remembered seeing it that long ago day when his great father showed it
+to him.</p>
+
+<p>His father, that stern-faced giant in whom the valiant blood of the
+hibernating Unterzuyders flowed, had been most explicit. One of these
+years, the map would be given to Ralph. He would guard it with his
+blood. In the course of time, Ralph would give it to <i>his</i> son.</p>
+
+<p>At long last, the hibernaculum would be opened, the dozen
+hibernating Unterzuyders would be brought to life with injections of
+anti-somnolene, and would once more take over their rightful place of
+dominance in the Solar System.</p>
+
+<p>The position they had been scourged from by a relentless political
+regime which had smashed the Unterzuyders' fabulous tri-planet cartels,
+leaving the remnants in the form of a thousand rigidly controlled small
+holding companies.</p>
+
+<p>The position they had been forced to flee from, leaving only their
+children&mdash;and a hidden map.</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder's fingers still shook. Sweat dribbled down his blonde
+hair-line. Something was wrong. Everything was wrong. The map itself
+was hideously out of scale.</p>
+
+<p>The traced orbits of the planets were circular, <i>not</i> elliptical.</p>
+
+<p>And the map itself.</p>
+
+<p><i>I should not have found it so easily</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Counter-intrigue?</p>
+
+<p>No time to lose.</p>
+
+<p>From his inside pocket, he took the flat little duplico-camera,
+adjusted the frame over the map. He flipped the shutter. Seconds later,
+the map was back exactly where he'd taken it from.</p>
+
+<p>There was only one sound in this quiet room, the tremor of the
+gas-thrust shoving the ship through dark void into the spaces beyond
+Jupiter. Suddenly, there was the scuffle of moving feet beyond the door.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Unterzuyder found himself in the position of a traveler in an alien
+city where savage little children had switched all the street signs.
+Nonetheless, he lunged for the door, threw off the lights in the
+stateroom, opened the door, closed it, stood with his back pressed
+against it.</p>
+
+<p>Hurrying footsteps. Unterzuyder was after the sound.</p>
+
+<p>The big, hurrying frame of Captain Foshag. Unterzuyder grabbed his
+arm, whipped him around. Foshag's hairy, dignified face was wrenched
+with astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Straley," he said uncertainly. His brow clouded. He looked at
+Unterzuyder's grip on his heavy arm and frowned with displeasure. He
+shook off the hand. "I'm not used to being manhandled, sir! You've
+perhaps imbibed too much at the party?" He was being sternly insulting.</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder crumbled. He could be wrong.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;haven't been well. My heart&mdash;" He touched at his chest
+apologetically. It wasn't too far from the truth. Pains in his chest.
+His mother had always assured him the Unterzuyders were prone to heart
+trouble. Just as she'd got around to making him wear glasses. Terrible
+uncertainties were crowding him. He was surrounded by treachery. Had
+Foshag been shadowing him?</p>
+
+<p>Foshag's great frame rocked judicially on its toes.</p>
+
+<p>"If you truly have a bad heart," he said measuredly, "you'd have
+taken the long trail when the <i>Ares</i> hit heaven. We humans often are
+plagued with strange influences. Words spoken to the unguarded mind of
+the child sometimes become fact to the grownup. I'd not worry about
+the heart. And now, the reason I am away from the turret. I've been
+looking for you."</p>
+
+<p>He cleared his throat. "There's a king-sized ship of the Silver type
+on our tail, Mr. Straley. I'm not the worrying kind, however. Worry is
+indeed the prime cause of most kidney troubles, and, besides, beclouds
+the mind when there's work to be done. Therefore, not until I observed
+that the pursuing craft was indeed pursuing&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Come to the point!" Everything else was swept away. Unterzuyder was
+suddenly furious at this big, stupid, philosophizing blunderer. "You're
+trying to excuse yourself for not telling me right away. Let's get to
+the turret!"</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder went at full stride, his brain in high gear. They were
+being pursued. That arrogant Bigger Bailes, no doubt! So what? Add one
+more menace to those he was collecting. In fact, mess up the mess a
+little more.</p>
+
+<p>"Captain Foshag," he said, "you are a well-read man. Ever read
+Ouspensky?"</p>
+
+<p>Foshag nodded his square bearded chin. "A man of vast creative mental
+power, Mr. Straley. A man who seemed able to step off our three
+dimensions and look at the universe from a new viewpoint." Tentatively:
+"You have an interest in the classical philosophers, perhaps?"</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder muttered something garbled. He trotted ahead of Foshag up
+the ramp to the glassed-in control turret, went past several instrument
+men to the viewing disk assembly. Foshag hurriedly got the pursuing
+ship on the cross-hairs. It was a great globoid catching golden-green
+sun on one half, black interstellar shadow on the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Raise it on the beam!" Unterzuyder ordered.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Moments later, Ralph Unterzuyder was looking into the detested face of
+Bigger Bailes.</p>
+
+<p>"That's me," smiled Bigger, his rosy face creasing. "Bigger Bailes. And
+how are you, Mr. Ralph Unterzuyder?" His smile became even more rosy.</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder gulped. He was completely dismayed. Captain Foshag showed
+no reaction at the unmasking. Captain Foshag kept his face turned
+studiously away.</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder felt himself going into a spin.</p>
+
+<p>But he drew himself up and said haughtily, "Kindly keep your inside
+information to yourself, Mr. Bigger Bailes. I travel under the name of
+Carruthers Straley merely because there is an unsavory flavor to the
+name of Unterzuyder!</p>
+
+<p>"Now, why are you following us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Following you?" Bigger Bailes appeared injured. "I'm trying to catch
+up with you. I intend to come aboard&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>You will not!</i>" Unterzuyder yelled the words so loud the crew members
+in back of him half-jumped from their charts.</p>
+
+<p>Bigger's image wavered on the screen as he leaned forward and settled
+back.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't expect such a reaction, Mr.&mdash;Straley," he said. His little
+eyes, almost hidden by fat, were penetrating. "I'd almost think you
+were hiding something. Are you?"</p>
+
+<p>Foshag raised a commanding hand. "That'll be enough of that," he
+commanded. "We're a law-abiding ship. I myself am an honest man.
+Secrecy gives rise to certain nervous disorders which I avoid. If you
+wish to come aboard, perhaps you are taking advantage of some Space
+Article?"</p>
+
+<p>"Taking advantage? If you want to put it that way. Two of my men
+are down sick. The usual spastic seizures. We've run out of ATG.
+We're coming aboard your ship to get some. Article 10b of the Space
+Constitution gives us that right."</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder brushed Foshag aside.</p>
+
+<p>"I warn you, Mr. Bailes," he said thickly, "if you have any ulterior
+motive, such as looting this ship, we will put up a fight! Our
+settlers were chosen for their intrepid qualities. We have guns. We
+have bombs. We have a flare-cannon. You will not find us easy prey!"</p>
+
+<p>Bailes leaned back easily. "Relax, Unterzuyder. As far as guns
+go, we've got our share. And we have got a brace of flare-cannons
+embrasured into the bulkheads of the <i>Space-Queen</i> ourselves, if you
+want to get tough."</p>
+
+<p>He spread his fat hands. "But who wants to get tough? See you
+gentlemen, aboard your ship, twenty-four hours from now." With which
+remark he broke contact.</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder was at Foshag instantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Not a word about my identity," he breathed. "After all, I did pay you
+a thousand credits!"</p>
+
+<p>"And for which I thanked you! Mr. Unterzuyder, I am not a secretive
+man. If asked a direct question, I seldom impair my health by lying.
+Now permit me to return to my duties."</p>
+
+<p>Fuming, Unterzuyder left the control turret, went straight to the
+ballroom. Here, without any hesitation whatever, he cut in on Fayette,
+taking her away from the handsomest husband in the lot. No word of
+apology.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>He held her very close, very tight. He danced with a mathematical
+precision. Even the soul of the dance, he reflected grimly, derives
+from a mathematical formula. The dummy four-piece band haggered out
+its hag-strut very effectively. He was rewarded as Fayette lost her
+surprised stiffness, and began to melt into him in perfect rhythm to
+the tune. Her blonde head gradually nestled into his shoulder, her eyes
+closed, a small, sweet smile on her lips.</p>
+
+<p>At the first opportunity, he swung her without a break to a small
+observation lounge, and in the cold green glow of a million stars drew
+her to him, letting himself be stunned by the warmth of her and the
+drugging quality of her perfume. He kissed her. He was carried away
+into a land of intricate enchantment where Love is All, and the Girl in
+my Arms is You.</p>
+
+<p>She opened her eyes, looking at him dreamily. "I love you," she
+murmured.</p>
+
+<p>"I know," said Unterzuyder.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what your intentions are. I don't care what kind of a
+sneaky, underhanded person you are, I still love you."</p>
+
+<p>He kissed her again. She was crying. Unterzuyder took out his
+handkerchief and wiped away her tears. "Now don't worry, Fayette," he
+soothed. "Everything will turn out all right." He took her back to the
+dance floor. By luck he found the young husband she'd been dancing
+with. He gave her back.</p>
+
+<p>"Sorry!" he said. He gave Fayette a fleeting smile and hurriedly took
+off.</p>
+
+<p>He went to his cabin and feverishly got to work. Plug up the loopholes
+as you go along! A favorite axiom of the Unterzuyders. Now that Fayette
+was in love with him, he could draw on her for any emergency.</p>
+
+<p>Apparently the time was coming when he would need an ally.</p>
+
+<p>He ran the negative through the hypo, put it in the dryer and paced
+the floor. He rubbed at his lips with the back of his hand. He could
+still smell Fayette's perfume. He could still feel her bare warm back.
+Careful, careful. He went to a mirror and looked at his face. Weak. The
+glassless eyes red-rimmed. Thin nose and lips. His spirits dropped. How
+could Fayette be in love with him? Particularly when he was one of the
+outlawed Unterzuyders.</p>
+
+<p>The finished photograph went into the automatic pantograph. He blew
+it up six times onto a square of Mirac paper. He smoothed the new map
+onto the desk. Instantly he saw why at first the map had appeared so
+impossibly distorted. The circles did not indicate the orbits of the
+planets. They were merely a logarithmic indication of the scale of the
+map.</p>
+
+<p>Mercury, being some 43,000,000 miles from the Sun, was the basic unit.
+And that was necessary.</p>
+
+<p>The Solar System could not be drawn to scale unless the inner planets
+were crowded in fractionally close to the Sun.</p>
+
+<p>Here, the positions of the planets were indicated by dots whose
+map-distance from the Sun receded inward in logarithmic ratio to actual
+distance.</p>
+
+<p>Pluto, for instance, being one hundred times farther from the Sun than
+Mercury in real distance, appeared by the map to be only, roughly,
+twenty times as far.</p>
+
+<p>The position of the dot-planets on the map of course indicated the
+<i>exact</i> date of the day when the map was drawn.</p>
+
+<p>The finely drawn X showed the position of the hibernaculum asteroid <i>on
+that day</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Since then, roughly eighty-two years ago, X had moved in its orbit.
+Where to?</p>
+
+<p>That was the problem.</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder sweated. It was said by the Unterzuyders, with possible
+justification, that only an Unterzuyder could think like an
+Unterzuyder. How often his father had told him that. But he was
+confused.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally. The map was meant to confuse.</p>
+
+<p>What were the figures at the bottom of the map?</p>
+
+<table summary="map figures">
+<tr><td>s-1</td><td align="right">   .7452</td></tr>
+<tr><td>c-1</td><td align="right"> -.2020</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>and</p>
+
+<table summary="map figures">
+<tr><td>(0, 3, 2)</td></tr>
+<tr><td>(1, 1, 8)</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>And why, at the top corner, was the name unterzuyder printed <i>with a
+small u</i>?</p>
+
+<p>Nobody but an Unterzuyder would know.</p>
+
+<p>Well, he didn't know.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Puzzled, he paced the room. Tomorrow Bigger Bailes would force his
+way aboard ship. Little could be done to stop him, partly because he
+insisted he needed ATG, a chemical staff of life necessary for muscular
+action, but mostly because he had superior fire-power. Actually, he
+wanted the map. If he didn't get it, he would inevitably loot the ship.</p>
+
+<p>He paused before the mirror, again. Glassless, he didn't feel like an
+Unterzuyder. Looking upon himself naked of face, he cringed. If only
+the whole thing were over. If only he were in the observatory under the
+greenly burning stars with&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Frantically he stopped that line of thought.</p>
+
+<p>He hauled out a sheaf of maps. He had come prepared. He had brought the
+duplico-camera, the film developing equipment, the pantograph, other
+odds and ends. He had a shelf-full of celestial mechanic manuals, as
+well as books on the more ordinary arithmetics.</p>
+
+<p>But he had had only one year of math. Somewhere along the line, he had
+outguessed his patriarch of a father and his matriarch of a mother: law
+had been the result.</p>
+
+<p>Well suited, he had felt at the time, to the trickery, the deceit, and
+the orneriness of the typical Unterzuyder mind!</p>
+
+<p>Anyway, he needed a slide-rule before he could tackle the equations.
+For the present, he would work out the date the map was made. Then it
+would be possible to discover X's present position.</p>
+
+<p>All that was necessary was, mathematically, to rotate the present-time
+position of the planets backward in time&mdash;clockwise, that is&mdash;until
+they coincided with map-position.</p>
+
+<p>The star-maps, the Emphemeris, and the Planet Catalogue should make
+that fairly simple.</p>
+
+<p>After an hour, his nerves began to quiver. He ran his hands
+distractedly through his awry blonde hair. He had the answer. And it
+was impossible. Except that it was correct.</p>
+
+<p>Apparently, the map had been drawn up in prehistoric times.</p>
+
+<p>50,000 years ago!</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>After a virtually sleepless sleep-period, he went to breakfast. The
+settlers were in a happy chattering mood. Titan was only ten days away.
+Unterzuyder ate with the pressure of the Beechers' eyes on him.</p>
+
+<p>Nathaniel Beecher showed quiet menace on a face that ordinarily held
+grinning, shifty-eyed comraderie. Fayette had sullen, angry shadows
+under her eyes. Perhaps she was smarting under a humiliation that
+might make her do dangerous things. He had left her rather abruptly at
+the dance. Unterzuyder bit his lip. Perhaps he had not covered that
+situation as well as he might.</p>
+
+<p>Remorse was an emotion new to Unterzuyder. But then he had suffered
+some kind of mental upset when his glasses shattered under Fayette's
+heel. He could see as well as the next man, and consequently was
+beginning to have some shattering doubts about the wisdom of his
+immediate ancestors. And he <i>was</i> a man.</p>
+
+<p>He gulped. All these were dangerous thoughts. He must continue to think
+like an Unterzuyder.</p>
+
+<p>Something devious. Something tricky. Something that would competently
+accomplish the task of fooling the Beechers, Bigger Bailes, and
+possibly Foshag!</p>
+
+<p>As he started out of the dining room, Beecher lunged after him,
+trailing a rocket-stream of cigar smoke.</p>
+
+<p>"A minute, Straley!" Beecher held him from the door, his close-set
+eyes full of dislike. "Foshag told me Bigger Bailes is back there."
+He jerked a shoulder. "You're a man with many small tricks, Straley,"
+he went on slowly. "Probably you're the most dangerous man I've ever
+encountered. I've been around."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll bet you have!"</p>
+
+<p>Beecher gestured with the cigar, turned on his grin, apparently to
+convince anybody watching that this was a friendly conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"But I'm not letting you get away with anything. We have to do
+something about Bailes. I don't intend to be hi-jacked. Truthfully,
+mister, I don't see why the settlers shouldn't be forewarned. They're a
+decent bunch. We're not.</p>
+
+<p>"In fact," his eyes were boring, "I've known from the first that you've
+been using these people."</p>
+
+<p>"As you have&mdash;and as you've attempted to use me!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes." Beecher's lips moved hesitantly. "You and I and Fayette are all
+three getting a free ride to Titan, aren't we? No expenses. So now
+that we've <i>almost</i> laid our cards on the table, why shouldn't we join
+forces?"</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder drew himself up disdainfully. "I work alone, Beecher."</p>
+
+<p>"Yeah." Beecher showed disgust. "You mean you're working for something
+no decent person would help you with."</p>
+
+<p>"And you mean by that?"</p>
+
+<p>Beecher's eyes simmered. He said nothing.</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder snapped. "I still work alone&mdash;unless forced to recruit
+help. That condition may occur. In the meantime, use some of those
+qualities of leadership an <i>explorer</i> should have. Inform these people
+what's up. Tell them Bailes will probably attempt to loot the ship.
+Line the men up at the arsenal and load them down with weapons. Make
+arrangements so the women and children will keep to the cabins. Can you
+handle that?"</p>
+
+<p>Beecher flushed until his face was bright red.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Leaving him properly insulted, Unterzuyder went to the control turret
+where he cornered Foshag, drew him to the Solar Chart.</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder picked up a pencil, made an indentation at random. It was
+considerably to the east of the <i>Ares'</i> present position.</p>
+
+<p>"Change course immediately. To that point."</p>
+
+<p>Foshag huffed rebelliously. "That won't help us outrun Bailes. The new
+course will but give him a hypotenuse to travel. He'll run us down
+quicker."</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder's lips turned thinner. Muttering, Foshag sat down to the
+computations. On the way out of the turret, Unterzuyder slipped a
+slide-rule out of an instrument case so deftly that nobody noticed.</p>
+
+<p>Another hour's work showed him that the two sets of figures,
+respectively, indicated X's <i>point of origin</i> and <i>direction of
+travel</i>. <i>c</i> stood for cosine, of course, <i>s</i> for sine.</p>
+
+<p>X had been, when the map was made, some degrees below the plane of the
+ecliptic. Its orbit was at a steep slant to that plane.</p>
+
+<p>So what? So the point of origin was located in time 50,000 years ago?</p>
+
+<p>The map was a fake!</p>
+
+<p>He sat at the desk a long time, thinking, and thinking fast. Foshag
+must have known who he was from the first. He was an observing man, but
+he was also a close-mouthed man, who answered only to direct questions.
+And the Beechers knew his identity too. Fayette had accidentally called
+him by his real name. Treachery!</p>
+
+<p>Undoubtedly, Bigger Bailes had tipped off the Beechers, just before
+Unterzuyder arrived at the Beechers' apartment in Marsport. Bigger
+Bailes thought Unterzuyder knew where the map was, but didn't know the
+Beechers had it. Bigger intended to let the situation stir itself up so
+the asteroid's location would more easily come out of hiding.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, everything was wrong. Bigger would loot the ship when he learned
+the map was a practical joke. Taking a ship this far beyond Jupiter
+would have to pay off. And there was nobody to stop him.</p>
+
+<p>What was it his father told him about Unterzuyder techniques? Sell
+short at the top, buy long at the bottom. All events, good or bad,
+could be used to build a firmer superstructure!</p>
+
+<p>Well, face it! Ship's course had been changed. The settlers by this
+time had demanded to know why. Beecher would tell them Carruthers
+Straley was Ralph Unterzuyder, hunting for a hibernaculum!</p>
+
+<p>The settlers by this time were up in arms against him.</p>
+
+<p>He paled. He leaped to the door, listened. Footsteps. Patrolling his
+room.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>He returned to the table. Make use of the situation. Dredge it for
+what it's worth! He crossed shakily to the audio and called Fayette's
+number. Luckily, Fayette and not her father answered.</p>
+
+<p>"Fayette&mdash;darling." The word came out huskily. It was hard to say. It
+sounded real.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Who?</i>" Then her voice was uneven. "You called me darling. Are you
+sure you're in your right mind?"</p>
+
+<p>"I mean it, dear." <i>Did he?</i> "I couldn't forget last night."</p>
+
+<p>He was falling into the self-made trap of the dishonest, unable to tell
+his own truth from his own falsehood.</p>
+
+<p>"All right," she said unevenly. "So you couldn't forget it? So what?"</p>
+
+<p>He spoke softly. Please, he had to see her in his room right away. It
+was urgent. Would she come now? A long silence. Yes, she would come.
+No, she wouldn't tell her father. Positively. Five minutes later
+she slipped into the room. She barely opened the door. He took her
+instantly into his arms. When he figured he had kissed her enough, he
+let her drop limply into a chair.</p>
+
+<p>The circles under her eyes were worse. She looked miserable. He drew up
+a chair, tenderly took her hands in his.</p>
+
+<p>"Look at me, Fayette. I'm going to make a confession that will shock
+you. I'm not Carruthers Straley. I'm Ralph Unterzuyder."</p>
+
+<p>She didn't look shocked. He pretended not to notice.</p>
+
+<p>He told her selected portions of the story. "I suspected you had the
+map. I examined <i>Tertium Organum</i> in your apartment yesterday when you
+and your father were in the kitchen."</p>
+
+<p><i>And you wanted me to examine it! So I'd be sure to hire you and
+Beecher and take you with me to Saturn. That was the reason you posed
+as explorers, so Titan Settlers would give you a free ride to the
+vicinity of X!</i></p>
+
+<p>"I broke into your room last night, Fayette, and made a copy of the
+map."</p>
+
+<p><i>And you left it wide open for me, so I could put my Unterzuyder brains
+to work deciphering it!</i></p>
+
+<p>"And now that I've deciphered the map&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>That shocked her. "You <i>did</i>? But Daddy figured out it was made roughly
+50,000 years ago!"</p>
+
+<p>His heart fell to the bottom of his stomach. The Beechers hadn't got
+over that stumbling block either. He'd made a mistake in trying to pump
+her. He smiled feebly. But salvage <i>something</i> out of it!</p>
+
+<p>"50,000 years," he said druggedly, "seems to be correct&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She was on her feet, laughing half hysterically. "You're trying to say
+the Unterzuyders invented a time-machine? That they aren't hibernating
+at all? After all the trouble we've gone to&mdash;" She giggled. "That's
+rich, Ralph&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Female instability. He held her tightly. A lie, a good solid lie. His
+heart raced. Bigger Bailes. "Of course not, dear. The whole idea of a
+time-machine is fantasy&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p><i>Is it?</i></p>
+
+<p>"&mdash;and it'll make you feel better to know the map is purely
+contemporary. You noticed the ship changed course? Well, dear, we are
+headed toward X!"</p>
+
+<p>She pushed away, her eyes amazed.</p>
+
+<p>"And," he added happily, "you will also be glad to know that you and
+I and your father are going to collect the reward for finding the
+hibernaculum!"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Really</i>, Ralph? That was your intention all along? You weren't going
+to <i>free</i> them? Oh, I was hoping so hard you were going only after the
+reward&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She switched her glance over his shoulder. Pity wrenched her face.</p>
+
+<p>Something hit Ralph Unterzuyder hard on the back of the head. He fell
+straight down ten thousand miles, and lay there for quite a while
+studying patterns of light that squirmed in his head.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>Captain Foshag was dragging him to a chair. His tufted eyebrows came
+close. He put a slopping cloth on Unterzuyder's forehead.</p>
+
+<p>He said, "For the time, you're a prisoner in this cabin. I trust the
+experience will teach you some truths. Wickedness secretes various
+poisons in the body, particularly the heart and the liver. Change your
+ways, and you may indeed live a long life!"</p>
+
+<p>The door burst open and Beecher lunged in. His shrewd eyes rested on
+Unterzuyder.</p>
+
+<p>"Sorry I had to bop you, Unterzuyder," he said in clipped accents. "But
+it was the best way to get you out of the picture and keep you from
+talking to Bigger Bailes. You might have messed up the works. As it
+was, we told him the truth."</p>
+
+<p>"The truth?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly. You admitted it to Fayette. That you'd figured out the
+orbit and present position of X. He got the course from Foshag and made
+us turn around toward Titan again. Then he took off for X. So we're
+whipped. But at least it kept us from being looted."</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder ripped the wet cloth from his head and threw it somewhere.
+He laughed. He weaved about the room, holding his head and hooting,
+while Foshag and Beecher looked on with open mouths. Then Foshag forced
+him into a chair.</p>
+
+<p>"Out of his head! Mr. Unterzuyder, please be quiet. That's better.
+There, there! Now we're going to leave you here for your own
+protection, Mr. Unterzuyder. The settlers are somewhat provoked. Do you
+agree?"</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder grinned widely up at him.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sick," he groaned. "Tell Fayette I need her."</p>
+
+<p><i>There's still X to find.</i></p>
+
+<p>An idea had come to him.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>He was in bed, the white cloth on his forehead, when Fayette walked in.
+She looked at him without sympathy. Tentatively, she sat on the edge of
+the bed, curling one knee under another.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sorry if you think I played Delilah, Ralph&mdash;" she began.</p>
+
+<p>He patted her knee delicately. "There, there," he soothed. "None of
+that matters. Actually, we're two of a kind. Not that we're naturally
+treacherous, but that we are indirect, the most dangerous weapon in the
+world. I wanted to discuss our plans. You see, marriage is a&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She gripped his wrist, hard, to make him stop talking.</p>
+
+<p>She said through her teeth, "After this, nothing but the truth!"</p>
+
+<p>Inwardly he groaned.</p>
+
+<p>She went on with determination. "I <i>do</i> love you. I <i>do</i> want to marry
+you. And settle on Titan. The important thing is, do <i>you</i> love me
+and really want to marry me? Are you going to be honest with me about
+things that concern only us? Of course, I don't mind if you're tricky
+with other people. That's life."</p>
+
+<p><i>Well, why not?</i></p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately, he would be unable to use her anymore for purposes of
+finding X. But apparently, he <i>was</i> in love with her.</p>
+
+<p>He held her warm hands. "We'll get married and live on Titan," he said.</p>
+
+<p>She leaned over and kissed him until he thought he'd be forced down
+through the bed.</p>
+
+<p>He added, "But first I've got to get back in the good graces of the
+settlers." When she smiled incredulously, he said with confidence, "It
+should be easy."</p>
+
+<p>And besides, it was necessary.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>As soon as Fayette left, he leaped out of bed and grabbed an
+encyclopaedia out of the bookcase. He looked up <i>Unterzuyder</i>, tracing
+down until he found the expected paragraph:</p>
+
+<p><i>The fabulous cartels of the Unterzuyders were built up through their
+amazing instinct on the stock market. When the market was bullish,
+they seemed to know when the crest was reached. Selling short in heavy
+amount at this point, they reaped millions in profit as the market
+fell, then caught the market again on the upswing. Invariably, the
+bulls were caught short by the Unterzuyder bears. The Unterzuyders
+seemed to draw some special inspiration from one famous interpretation
+of their name, i. e.</i>, undersiders, <i>those who work from the
+underside</i>....</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder sent the book scurrying into a corner. His hunch had been
+right. But now was not the time to work out the rest of the puzzle. He
+dressed quickly.</p>
+
+<p>When he walked into the dining room, where dinner was in progress, he
+was wearing the white bandage pinned around his forehead. He was also
+limping very slightly. Sympathy was nonetheless lacking. Complete quiet
+reigned in the dining room. The settlers kept their faces turned away,
+or looked fixedly at their plates.</p>
+
+<p>Fayette's expression alone showed sympathy. He knew his own face was
+fiery red.</p>
+
+<p>Nonetheless, he told the settlers everything he thought necessary.
+(They knew it anyway.) He apologized. He pointed out deviously that,
+after all, they <i>were</i> on the way to a new world. That much he had done
+for them.</p>
+
+<p>"What you do not realize is that it was I, your leader, who diverted
+Bigger Bailes from looting the ship.</p>
+
+<p>"Quite deliberately, I built up the feeling that the new course was the
+course to X, the hibernaculum of my criminal ancestors. All of you were
+convinced. Therefore Bailes became convinced.</p>
+
+<p>"Had he known the Unterzuyder map was a fake, he would have taken it
+out on you by looting the ship. I sent him off on a wild goose chase!"</p>
+
+<p>Some of the settlers were looking at him with cautious interest.
+Beecher rose at this point.</p>
+
+<p>"I can say something in favor of Mr. Unterzuyder," he said. "His
+intentions were good. Mr. Unterzuyder was only after the reward money.
+He did <i>not</i> intend to free the Unterzuyders, even though he is an
+Unterzuyder himself. And half of the reward money was to go into the
+treasury of Titan Settlers!"</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder looked pop-eyed at Beecher. But now the settlers were
+frankly staring at him. After a moment, they began eating again. In
+several minutes more, the hall was full of chatter again.</p>
+
+<p>After the most uncomfortable meal of his life, Unterzuyder headed for
+the door. Beecher caught up with him, grinning companionably.</p>
+
+<p>"We did a good job, mister," he said. "I had my own reasons for backing
+you up. This thing'll blow over. Then I've got some ideas. You and I
+are sharpies, Unterzuyder. We could set up in business on Titan and
+build up one of the biggest fortunes in the System, eventually. What do
+you say?"</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder smiled wanly and said he would think it over. Then he went
+to his cabin. In two hours, he had plotted X's location to the dot.</p>
+
+<p>Then he leaned back, nibbling nervously at the pencil eraser.</p>
+
+<p>In five days, with good fortune, the infamous Unterzuyders would be
+awake and free....</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>It took him two days of cautious footwork before the settlers
+completely dropped their hostility toward him. Then one evening he told
+them simply that they still had Bigger Bailes to worry about.</p>
+
+<p>"When he discovers he's been fooled, it's possible he might head for
+Titan and try to loot the settlement. We have to be ready. For several
+weeks we'll have to be on guard. The space ship will be camouflaged.
+For awhile we'll suspend building operations.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll be ready for offense and defense. We have three life boats which
+are maneuverable in empty space or in an atmosphere. These life boats
+must be equipped with food, with water, with weapons. I'm calling for
+volunteers to help me with that job."</p>
+
+<p>It was a rude shock to Unterzuyder when Fayette became the first
+volunteer.</p>
+
+<p>By the fourth day, the life boats were deadly offensive craft.</p>
+
+<p>Unterzuyder paid particular attention to one of the life boats himself.
+Quite accidentally, it became loaded down with extra weapons and
+supplies.</p>
+
+<p>Only one thing bothered him. Fayette was underfoot all the time.</p>
+
+<p>As the time of leaving approached, his nerves began to get the better
+of him. The time, however, <i>did</i> come. At 22:04 on the fifth day, in
+the middle of the sleeping period, he dialed open the airlock door to
+the blister in which the stout little life boat nestled. He closed it
+behind him, turned around. Fayette was standing at the hatch of the
+little ship, slickly dressed in shiny boots, smart beige jodphurs, and
+a blouse open at the throat.</p>
+
+<p>She was holding her pet neutron gun with the snout pointed toward him.
+She was smiling confidently.</p>
+
+<p>"Ralph," she said, "in my hand I hold a weapon. It is not indirect.
+It is not subtle. It does not practice deceit. It does not give
+half-answers. It says 'yes,' and it says 'no'. That's all it says.</p>
+
+<p>"It also <i>gets</i> yes and no answers.</p>
+
+<p>"But don't be afraid of me, Ralph. I'm here to help you!"</p>
+
+<p>He found his voice. "Help me? I need no help! I work alone!"</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody works alone, Ralph. Ask Captain Foshag. Most people run on
+compulsive commands given them by people who might even be dead.
+Parents mostly. Positive suggestion. The mind works that way.</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes people are made to feel they're unhealthy, only they aren't
+really. Or they're told their eyes are bad. Or that they're superior to
+other people.</p>
+
+<p>"It's just as if&mdash;" she frowned hard as if looking for an example "&mdash;as
+if <i>your</i> parents were sitting inside that smart blonde head of yours,
+Ralph, and telling you to free the Unterzuyders from their sleep. It's
+something you feel you <i>have</i> to do.</p>
+
+<p>"But you <i>don't</i> have to, Ralph. I'm here to help you."</p>
+
+<p>He stared at her, stunned.</p>
+
+<p>He drew himself up arrogantly. "Put down that gun, Fayette."</p>
+
+<p>If anything, she held the gun more firmly, and moved it three inches
+toward him.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't mistake me, Ralph," she said, her eyes cold. "This is a yes and
+no game. No maybes or ifs. If you say yes when the gun says no, that's
+too bad. If you say no when the gun wants yes, <i>that's</i> too bad. You
+see how straightforward the three of us are?</p>
+
+<p>"But I and my pet neutron gun will give you time to think.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me how you found X."</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>He slumped weakly against the bulkhead, wiping at his forehead with the
+back of a shaking hand.</p>
+
+<p>"There were enough clues," he said hoarsely.</p>
+
+<p>And there had been, at that. <i>Tertium Organum</i>, A Key To The Enigmas Of
+The World, <i>was</i> a key. Its author, Ouspensky, looked at the universe
+from a <i>different</i> viewpoint.</p>
+
+<p>The small <i>u</i> in unterzuyder meant that it was to be taken as a common
+noun.</p>
+
+<p>And certainly the conclusion that the map was made 50,000 years ago was
+itself an obvious clue!</p>
+
+<p>"We made our calculations on the assumption that the map had been made
+looking at the Solar System from the north&mdash;from the star Polaris,
+that is. It hadn't been. My ancestors drew the map from the unorthodox
+reference point of the Southern Cross.</p>
+
+<p>"From the underside. I turned the negative upside down and made a new
+map. Then I got right answers."</p>
+
+<p>"Very good," said Fayette. "The tricky Unterzuyders did live up to
+their name. <i>Didn't</i> they, Ralph?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he said shakily.</p>
+
+<p>The gun wavered. Fayette was blinking. "Ralph, do you love me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes...."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you being truthful? Will you always tell me the truth, the whole
+truth?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes...."</p>
+
+<p>"That's a good boy. Please keep on giving my pet the right answers.
+Ralph, don't you know that if you freed the Unterzuyders I couldn't
+ever look at you again?"</p>
+
+<p>There were angry tears in her eyes. Unterzuyder suddenly remembered the
+time at the dance, when he had wiped away her tears. He should wipe
+them away now. He was weakening. He was an Unterzuyder. He should be
+strong. There was his duty....</p>
+
+<p>"Fayette," he said hoarsely.</p>
+
+<p>"Stand back." Her chin came up. "Answer the question! Yes or no."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you want to marry me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Fayette."</p>
+
+<p>Her mouth opened and closed. Suddenly her shoulders heaved and she
+shook her head blindly. The gun dropped to her side. "Oh, Ralph. I
+can't do it. I was going to ask you if you still wanted to go ahead
+with it. But I can't. I can't force you. You'll have to make up your
+own mind!" She turned away, hiding her face with one arm. Instantly, he
+leaped for her, tearing the gun from her hand.</p>
+
+<p>He looked at it where it lay black and ugly in his hands. He was seeing
+it very well, with his excellent Unterzuyder eyes. It slipped from his
+hand and fell to the floor. He let it lie, and took Fayette into his
+arms.</p>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK X MARKS THE ASTEROID ***</div>
+<div style='text-align:left'>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Updated editions will replace the previous one&#8212;the old editions will
+be renamed.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
+law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
+so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United
+States without permission and without paying copyright
+royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
+of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
+Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG&#8482;
+concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
+and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following
+the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use
+of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for
+copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very
+easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation
+of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project
+Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away--you may
+do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected
+by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark
+license, especially commercial redistribution.
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin:0.83em 0; font-size:1.1em; text-align:center'>START: FULL LICENSE<br />
+<span style='font-size:smaller'>THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE<br />
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK</span>
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+To protect the Project Gutenberg&#8482; mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase &#8220;Project
+Gutenberg&#8221;), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
+Project Gutenberg&#8482; License available with this file or online at
+www.gutenberg.org/license.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>
+Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
+destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works in your
+possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
+Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
+by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person
+or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.B. &#8220;Project Gutenberg&#8221; is a registered trademark. It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
+paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works if you follow the terms of this
+agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (&#8220;the
+Foundation&#8221; or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
+of Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works. Nearly all the individual
+works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
+States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
+United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
+claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
+displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
+all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
+that you will support the Project Gutenberg&#8482; mission of promoting
+free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
+Project Gutenberg&#8482; name associated with the work. You can easily
+comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
+same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg&#8482; License when
+you share it without charge with others.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
+in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
+check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
+agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
+distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
+other Project Gutenberg&#8482; work. The Foundation makes no
+representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
+country other than the United States.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
+immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg&#8482; License must appear
+prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg&#8482; work (any work
+on which the phrase &#8220;Project Gutenberg&#8221; appears, or with which the
+phrase &#8220;Project Gutenberg&#8221; is associated) is accessed, displayed,
+performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
+</div>
+
+<blockquote>
+  <div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+    This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+    other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+    whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+    of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
+    at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
+    are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws
+    of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
+  </div>
+</blockquote>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work is
+derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
+contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
+copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
+the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
+redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase &#8220;Project
+Gutenberg&#8221; associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
+either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
+obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
+additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
+will be linked to the Project Gutenberg&#8482; License for all works
+posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
+beginning of this work.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg&#8482;.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg&#8482; License.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
+any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
+to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg&#8482; work in a format
+other than &#8220;Plain Vanilla ASCII&#8221; or other format used in the official
+version posted on the official Project Gutenberg&#8482; website
+(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
+to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
+of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original &#8220;Plain
+Vanilla ASCII&#8221; or other form. Any alternate format must include the
+full Project Gutenberg&#8482; License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg&#8482; works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works
+provided that:
+</div>
+
+<div style='margin-left:0.7em;'>
+    <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'>
+        &bull; You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+        the use of Project Gutenberg&#8482; works calculated using the method
+        you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
+        to the owner of the Project Gutenberg&#8482; trademark, but he has
+        agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
+        Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
+        within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
+        legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
+        payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
+        Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
+        Section 4, &#8220;Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
+        Literary Archive Foundation.&#8221;
+    </div>
+
+    <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'>
+        &bull; You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+        you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+        does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+        License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
+        copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
+        all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+        works.
+    </div>
+
+    <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'>
+        &bull; You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
+        any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+        electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
+        receipt of the work.
+    </div>
+
+    <div style='text-indent:-0.7em'>
+        &bull; You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+        distribution of Project Gutenberg&#8482; works.
+    </div>
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
+Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work or group of works on different terms than
+are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
+from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of
+the Project Gutenberg&#8482; trademark. Contact the Foundation as set
+forth in Section 3 below.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.F.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
+Gutenberg&#8482; collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
+contain &#8220;Defects,&#8221; such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
+or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
+intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
+other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
+cannot be read by your equipment.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the &#8220;Right
+of Replacement or Refund&#8221; described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg&#8482; trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg&#8482; electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
+with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
+with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
+lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
+or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
+opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
+the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
+without further opportunities to fix the problem.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you &#8216;AS-IS&#8217;, WITH NO
+OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
+LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
+damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
+violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
+agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
+limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
+unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
+remaining provisions.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works in
+accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
+production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
+including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
+the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
+or any Project Gutenberg&#8482; work, (b) alteration, modification, or
+additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg&#8482; work, and (c) any
+Defect you cause.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>
+Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg&#8482;
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Project Gutenberg&#8482; is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
+computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
+exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
+from people in all walks of life.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg&#8482;&#8217;s
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg&#8482; collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg&#8482; and future
+generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
+Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>
+Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service. The Foundation&#8217;s EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
+U.S. federal laws and your state&#8217;s laws.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+The Foundation&#8217;s business office is located at 809 North 1500 West,
+Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up
+to date contact information can be found at the Foundation&#8217;s website
+and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>
+Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Project Gutenberg&#8482; depends upon and cannot survive without widespread
+public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
+DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state
+visit <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/donate/">www.gutenberg.org/donate</a>.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
+donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; font-size:1.1em; margin:1em 0; font-weight:bold'>
+Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg&#8482; electronic works
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
+Gutenberg&#8482; concept of a library of electronic works that could be
+freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
+distributed Project Gutenberg&#8482; eBooks with only a loose network of
+volunteer support.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Project Gutenberg&#8482; eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
+the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
+necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
+edition.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+Most people start at our website which has the main PG search
+facility: <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+This website includes information about Project Gutenberg&#8482;,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+</body>
+</html>
diff --git a/old/66211-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/66211-h/images/cover.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..871da1c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/66211-h/images/cover.jpg
diff --git a/old/66211-h/images/illus.jpg b/old/66211-h/images/illus.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d431336
--- /dev/null
+++ b/old/66211-h/images/illus.jpg