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I met Inverness in the ante-room of the Chief of Command. The Chief was tied up in one of the long-winded meetings which the Silver-sleeves devoted largely to the making of new rules and regulations for the confusion of both men and officers of the Service, but he came out long enough to give me the Ertak’s orders in person.

“Glad to see you here at Base again, Commander,” he said, in his crisp, business-like way. “Hear some good reports of your work; keep it up!”

“Thank you, sir,” I said, wondering what was in the air. Any time the Chief was complimentary, it was well to look out for squalls—which is an old Earth term for unexpected trouble.

“Not at all, Commander, not at all. And now, let me present Carlos Inverness, the scientist, of whom you have undoubtedly heard.”

I bowed and said nothing, but we shook hands after the fashion of Earth, and Inverness smiled quite humanly.

“I imagine the good captain has been too busy to follow the activities of such as myself,” he said, sensibly enough.