70 "Yes, sir!"
71 "Order a new converter from supply. Charge it to my personal
account. We'll figure out how we'll settle up later."
7 2 "Yes, sir!" the Engineering Officer agreed.
73 "Is there anything else I should know about?" North asked.
74 "Nothing I can't fix myself, sir, when I get the time."
75 "All right," said North. "I think I'm going to make that inspection
of the ship now. Alert all sections. Command leaving deck. Take over,
Number Two."
76 North went over the ship from bow to stern in the next five days.
There wasn't a nut or bolt he didn't check. By the time he was done he
was sure the ship was in satisfactory condition. But he ordered a few
more new parts for a food production unit, and a new washer for the
laundry.
77 As they neared Colony Five they found the system in a panic....
Signals were jumping back and forth from planet to planet, ship to
ship. There was obviously a great deal of excitement about something!
78 When they entered orbit around the once dead world that was now,
after many year's work, green again, North beamed down to speak with
the Governor.
79 The Governor paced back and forth nervously. "Five-hundred of 'em!"
he moaned, "Five-hundred of my best slaves disappeared. Two of our best
cargo pods and tons of equipment, plus one-hundred-twenty-six of our
own people just vanished right from under our noses, and that hole out
in
the desert big enough to put a starship in. We picked up a ship on the
edge of the system, but my ships couldn't overtake it before they went
to star drive."
80 "Tell me exactly what happened," North insisted.
81 "Everything was Perfectly normal," explained the Governor, "then
late one night our entire communications system and tracking system
dies. It was completely out.