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deep-freeze lunch’ trays and very palatable, especially to a man who had had nothing solid in his stomach for days.
    â€œDo you know something about construction works, Mr. Roberts?” Hans asked.
    â€œThat’s not important,” the Master told him. “Go away and let me speak to Roberts alone. Get back to the harbor. Why are you hanging about here, anyway?”
    â€œFirst you want me to paint signs, then you want me to work at the harbor—”
    â€œHans, this is no fun-fair. There’s work to be done. Get down to that harbor when I tell you. You know the scum don’t work well without you.”
    â€œYou think I care?” Maastricht said, but he backed out all the same, casting black looks on the man in the chair.
    When we were alone, the Master said dismissively, “I try to run a tight little ship. Now then, Mr. Calvert Roberts, we can have a talk, since you are here, however unwelcomely.”
    â€œFood’s good.… After a week and more in an open boat, I tell you, a man is more than glad when Providence delivers him to terra firma, and to water, food, and human company—however unfriendly.”
    â€œNobody has ever thanked Providence for being on this rock before.”
    â€œMaybe they should have tried it.… I want to discuss what you call this rock with you—”
    He shook his head. “I want to discuss you . Never mind what you want. First things first. I have my priorities.”
    â€œLook, friend, you come on pretty heavy. You haven’t even introduced yourself. You don’t own me, remember. I’m not addressing you as ‘Master’—what’s your name?”
    â€œâ€˜Master’ is my name here.”
    â€œYou’ll gain nothing by persisting in that attitude, I promise you. Your presence here, in the middle of a War Zone, is probably against military law, and carries severe penalties.” I continued to eat, while the orchestra continued to play and he wheeled himself fast about the room.
    He returned to swerve in front of me, confronting me, and said, “If you find it so damned important, my name was Dart. Mortimer Dart—though I’m now as nameless as I am stateless. As I am formless. There is no place for you on this island unless you submit to my authority.”
    â€œWhy not cool it, Mr. Dart? I’m not challenging your authority, and I certainly don’t require one slice of your little island. My intention is simply to get back to the States as soon as possible. My presence is required. ASASC—that’s the Allied Space and Aerospace Corps, if you’re out of touch—will be searching this whole area for survivors of the shuttle crash. I must use your radio to get in touch with ASASC HQ in San Diego, to have a message relayed to the President, letting him know I’m functional and pinpointing my present position. You will be compensated for any inconvenience.”
    He looked at me over one malformed shoulder, his lips compressed.
    â€œAccording to you, you’re an Undersecretary of State. A buddy of the President’s, eh? Quite a big wheel. Important. It’s not a tale I find likely—you, washed up here half dead. Prove you’re who you claim.”
    â€œAll my papers were lost in the Leda crash. Get on to ASASC, ask them if Undersecretary Roberts is missing. Or I can raise my own department on confidential wavelength—they’ll be glad to identify me. You can also check on the names of the other guys in the crash. I can give them to you. I am real enough. The news I carry to the President is real enough.”
    He regarded me suspiciously. “What news?”
    I looked at my watch and calculated. The war moved fast, even in its rather phony opening stages. Military movements which had been secret ten days ago on the Moon would be common knowledge on Earth by now.
    â€œYou follow the events of the war?”
    He gestured toward the