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Lucky strode into Dr Peverale&039;s office shortly before 2 PM the next day

The others had already gathered Dr Peverale, sitting behind an old and crowded desk, nodded pleasantly at hirave, "Good afternoon, sir"

It wasof the banquet Cook was there, of course, looking as always, nervous and, soe arman&039;s se armchair at the left

Mindes was there, his thin face twisted glu occasionally to dru Dr Gardolance disapprovingly at Lucky as he entered The depart the astronomers were there

In fact, the only man who had been present at the banquet but was absent noas Urteil

Dr Peverale began at once in his gentle way, "We can start now And first, a feords for Mr Starr I understand that Big to you as a trial Please be assured that it is nothing of the sort If there is to be a trial, and I hope not, it wil take place on Earth with qualified judges and legal counsel What we are trying to do here is merely to assemble a report for transmission to the Council of Science"

Dr Peverale arranged some of the helter-skelter of objects on his desk and said, "Let me explain why a full report is necessary In the first place, as a result of Mr Starr&039;s daring penetration of the Sun-side, the saboteur who has been upsetting Dr Mindes&039;s project has been stopped It turned out to be a robot of Sirian er functional MrStarr "

"Yes?" said Lucky

"The importance of theyou when you were first brought in and when your state was one of only half-consciousness"

"I remember that," said Lucky, "quite well"

"Would you confirm some of the answers now, for the record?"

"I will"

"In the first place, are there any other robots involved?"

"The robot did not say, but I do not believe there were others"

"However, it did not say specifically that it was the only robot on Mercury?"

"It did not"

"Then there ht be many others"

"I don&039;t think so"

"That&039;s only your own opinion, though The robot didn&039;t say there were no others"

"It did not"

"Very well, then How many Sirians were involved?"

"The robot would not say It had been instructed not to"

"Did it locate the base of the Sirian invaders?"

"It said nothing concerning that It made no mention of Sirians at all"

"But the robot was of Sirian manufacture, wasn&039;t it?"

"It admitted that"

"Ah" Dr Peverale smiled humorlessly "Then it is obvious, I think, that there are Sirians on Mercury and that they are active against us The Council of Science anized search of Mercury and, if the Sirians evade us and leave the planet, there er"

Cook interposed uneasily "There is also the question of the native Mercurian life-forms, Dr Peverale

The Council will have to be inforathering at large "One of the creatures was captured yesterday and "

The old astronomer interrupted with some annoyance "Yes, Dr Cook, the Council shall assuredly be informed Nevertheless, the Sirian question is what must be kept foreer For instance, I suggest that Dr Mindes abandon his project until Mercury be made safe for Earthmen"

"Hold on, now," cried Mindes quickly "There&039;s a lot of money and time and effort invested here "

"I said, until Mercury was safe I do not iht And because it is necessary to put the Mercurian danger foremost, it is necessary to make sure that Urteil&039;s protector, Senator Swenson, be prevented fro up obstructions over side issues"

Lucky said, "You oat in the forman, neatly ticketed and bound hand and foot Then while he&039;s worrying and clawing at Bigman, the chase for Sirians can proceed on Mercury without interference"

The astronooat, Mr Starr? We just want the facts"

"Well, go ahead, then," said Biget the facts"

"Good," said Dr Peverale "As the central figure, do you care to begin? Tell everything that occurred between you and Urteil in your oords Tell it in your oords, but I would appreciate brevity And re recorded on sound man said, "Do you want me to take my oath?"

Peverale shook his head "This is not a for dispassion, Big with Urteil&039;s slurs on his height and continuing through the encounter in the mines, he ended with the duel He left out only Urteil&039;s threats of action against Lucky Starr and the Council

Dr Gardo what had occurred on the occasion of the first , for the record, the scene at the banquet table He went on to describe his treatment of Urteil after the return from the mines

He said, "He recovered quickly from the hypothermia I didn&039;t ask him for details, and he didn&039;t offer any However, he asked after Bigman had saved his life Just the same, I must say that from my observation of the ratitude"

"That is only an opinion," interposed Dr Peverale hastily, "and I recommend that we not confuse the record by such statements"

Dr Cook caht That&039;s all there was to that It seeested, itnesses, no harrew serious I was afraid that, if I refused, a fight between theht be serious results Of course, the results could scarcely be more serious than they have turned out to be, but I never anticipated that I ought to have consulted you, Dr Peverale, I admit that"

Dr Peverale nodded "You certainly ought to have But the fact is now that Bigravity, didn&039;t he?"

"That&039;s right"