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whole Fleet.”
    Jet moved over to Whitaker and shook him roughly by the shoulders. “Hey, Whitaker--Whitaker!” he said, almost shouting.
    Whitaker opened his eyes immediately and gazed into Jet’s face. “Yes, captain?” he replied calmly.
    “You awake?” Jet asked in surprise.
    “Yes, sir.”
“Didn’t you hear all that row just now?” “No, sir.”
    “Then you must be deaf.”
    “No, sir. Just waiting for you to wake me. To transfer me to Freighter Number Six.”
    “That’s right,” said Jet. “Hey, wait a minute--how do you know?”
    “Isn’t it true, then?”
    “Yes, it is, but you were asleep when I decided which ship you should go to. Now, how did you know?”
    “It was a foregone conclusion, captain. Peterson’s the only person in this whole fleet who’ll put up with my company. Unlike Mr Barnet here.”
    “I don’t want to be rude,” interrupted Lemmy, “but you’re right. The sooner you leave this ship the better I’ll like it, and if they transferred you to Number Nine you’d still be too close for me.”
    “Lemmy, shut up,” said Jet. “As soon as you’ve eaten, you’ll both put on your suits and get ready to go outside. Then you’ll make your way from ship to ship until you reach Number Six. And you’ll take the propulsion units in case you should come adrift. When you get to Number Six, Whitaker will stay there. Lemmy, you will then escort Simmonds from Number Six to Number Two. Leave him there and then escort Mitch to this ship. Is that clear?”
    “Yes, Jet,” said Lemmy, his voice dropping low.
    “Right,” went on Jet, “when you’re ready, Doc will open up the airlock and let you out.”
     
     

Chapter Five
     
Number Six was about eight hundred yards from the Discovery, being the last freighter in line but two. We watched the suited figures of Whitaker and Lemmy slowly making their way, ship by ship, towards the far side of the formation. They had just about reached Number Five and were now only tiny figures.
    “I must say,” I said to Jet as we watched the screen, “the atmosphere in this ship is a lot easier now Whitaker’s gone. There’s something very peculiar about him.”
    “I know. I felt it myself but I didn’t like to admit it.”
    “But why should he affect us like that?” I continued. “Everybody he comes into contact with seems to find something they don’t like about him.”
    “I think it goes deeper than that, Doc.”
    “How do you mean?”
    “Lemmy’s dream.”
    “What about it?”
    “One of the things Rogers complained of was that all the time Whitaker was in his ship he hardly dared sleep for fear of the frightening dreams he’d have. And then, when Whitaker comes over to our ship, almost the first day he’s here exactly the same thing happens to Lemmy.”
    “Frank had nightmares, too?” I asked.
    “So he said,” went on Jet. “But since Whitaker left Number Two he hasn’t had one.”
    “But how can a man’s mere presence cause people to have nightmares?”
    “Search me, Doc, but I can’t help feeling that Lemmy’s hysterics were no coincidence. Ah, the main door of Number Six is opening.”
    A minute or so later there came a call from the freighter telling us that Lemmy and Whitaker were outside the ship and that the crew were in contact with them.
    A moment later there came the voice of Control from Earth demanding to speak to Jet.
    “All right, Doc,” said Jet, “If you care to take over here, I’ll talk to Control.”
    “Sure, Jet,” I told him.
    Jet moved to the other side of the cabin. A few seconds later the voice from Earth said: “Hullo, Captain Morgan. Here is your message. Information on Whitaker received. It has been checked against his dossier in Records Section and found to be identical.”
    “Well, of course,” I heard Jet mutter, impatiently.
    “But further investigation has revealed that the only James Edward Whitaker who answers to the description we have was born in 1893. In 1924, at the