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"Who?" Bigman demanded at once

But it was Lucky who answered "Obviously he thinks it&039;s one of us"

"Thanks!" said Panner "Hoould you explain it? Youtheir way on board the Jovian Moon Talk about nerve! Aren&039;t there two people who did force their way on board? Didn&039;t I witness the process? You two!"

"True enough," said Lucky

"And you brought ate every inch of the ship&039;s workings You tried to keepI wouldn&039;t notice that you tere going over the whole ship with a ht to do it This is Lucky Starr!"

"He says he&039;s Lucky Starr If he&039;s a member of the Council of Science, he can prove it and he kno If I had any brains, I&039;d have de you down"

"It&039;s not too late now," Lucky said calmly "Can you see clearly from that distance?" He held up one arm, palm forward, and peeled the sleeve back

"I&039;rily

Lucky said nothing to that He let his wrist tell the story The skin along the inner surface of his wrist seemed merely exposed skin, but years before it had been treated hor more than a disciplined effort of Lucky&039;s will, an oval spot on the wrist darkened and slowly turned black Within it, little yellow specks for Dipper and of Orion

Panner gasped as though the breath had been forcibly knocked out of his lungs Few hun of the Council, but all above the age of childhood knew it for what it was- the final and unforgeable identification insigne of the councilman of science

Panner was left with no choice Silently, reluctantly, he released the force field and stepped back

Bight to bend in your skull, you lopsided-"

Lucky pulled hiht to suspect us as we had to suspect hiical"

"I admit it did I think we can trust each other now"

"You, ineer said pointedly "You&039;re identified What about this little loudman squawked incoherently and Lucky stepped in between the two "I identify him and take full responsibility for hier quarters before a search is organized for us Everything that went on down here is, of course, strictly confidential"

Then, as though nothing had happened, they resuned to them contained a two-decker bed and a washstand out of which a s more Even the cra Starr were luxury to this

Biged his neck and shoulders They talked in whispers, conscious of the listening ears that ht be present on the other side of the walls

Bigo up to each person on board ship; I mean, each of the ten we don&039;t know about? Suppose I deliberately pick a fight with each one, call thes like that? Wouldn&039;t it turn out that the guy who doesn&039;t take a punch at ht not want to break shipboard discipline, or he un, or he le with the Council of Science, or he ht Just not like to hit a man sman was silent for a minute, then he said cautiously, &039;&039;I&039;ve been thinking; how can you be sure the robot is aboard ship? I keep thinking maybe it stayed back on Jupiter Nine It&039;s possible"

"I know it&039;s possible and yet I&039;m sure the robot is here on board ship That&039;s just it Fm sure and I don&039;t knohy I&039;ainst the bed and tapped his teeth with the knuckle of one finger "That first day we landed on Jupiter Nine, so happened"

"What?"

"If I only knew! I had it; I knehat it was, or thought I did, just before I went to sleep that night, and it vanished I haven&039;t been able to get it back If I were on Earth, I&039;d submit to a psycho-probe Great Galaxy, I swear I would!

&039;&039;I&039;ve tried every trick I could Thinking hard, getting ether When ith Panner down in the engine levels, I tried talkingevery aspect of the ht was bound to pop into my head It didn&039;t

"But it&039;s there just the saht that I must feel so sure the robot is one of the men aboard ship I&039;ve er on it, I&039;d have the whole answer If I could only put

Bigman had never seen Lucky with quite that look of frustrated loss in his face He said, worried, "Hey, we&039;d better get some sleep"

"Yes, we&039;d better"

Minutes later, in the darkness, Bigman whispered, "Hey, Lucky, what makes you so sure I&039;m not the robot myself?"

Lucky whispered back, "Because the Sirians couldn&039;t bear to build a robot with such an ugly face," and lifted his elboard off a flying pillow

The days passed Halfway to Jupiter, they passed the inner and more sparsely populated belt of small moons, of which only Six, Seven, and Ten were nuht star, but the others were far enough away to round of the constellations

Jupiter itself had grown to the size of thethe planet with the sun squarely to its rear, Jupiter remained in the "full" phase Its entire visible surface was ablaze with sunlight There was no shadow of night advancing across it

Yet though the size of the ht as the ht tiht that reached it, as did the bare powdered rock of the moon The trouble was that Jupiter only received one twenty-seventh of the light per square mile that the ht at that s on Earth

Yet it was more spectacular than the moon Its belts had becoainst a crearound It was even easy to make out the flattened straw-colored oval that was the Great Red Spot as it appeared at one edge, crossed the face of the planet, then disappeared at the other

Bigh it isn&039;t really round Is that just an optical illusion?"

"Not at all," said Lucky "Jupiter really isn&039;t round It&039;s flattened at the poles You&039;ve heard that Earth is flattened at the poles, haven&039;t you?"

"Sure But not enough to notice"