"Put me down, Miss Jones," Jeff demanded. "I have to find Fargo!"

"I can't put you down. You'd be taken instantly. And there's no need to worry about Fargo. Your brother is quite attractive…What I mean is, he's quite intelligent, and I'm sure he can take care of himself. We have bigger worries. Space Command itself may be infected by Ing's people."

"Fargo had some kind of private conversation with Admiral Yobo," Jeff said. "That may have been the problem they were concerned with. And maybe that's why Fister and Sligh were after him. They didn't want to convert him. They wanted to finish him. Miss Jones, please let me look for him. They'll kill him."

"If I may make a suggestion," Norby said.

Albany jumped at his voice, and the hover-car lurched as she inadvertently yanked at the controls. "That's not a barrel," she said. "It's a robot. Don't let that silly thing get in our way."

"That silly thing!" shouted Norby. "You're the silly thing, or you wouldn't be so busy talking you can't see the danger right ahead. There are cars approaching, shield-protected hovercars that probably belong to this Ing person you're so worried about. If I were you, I'd go somewhere else quickly, but, of course, I'm just a silly thing, so don't listen to me."

"Ing's cars?" Albany looked about in horror. It was clear that the trouble was even worse than Norby had thought. They were surrounded.

Albany's mouth tightened. "Ing must have been planning this a long time. He's taking over Manhattan as though it were a meatball and he were a wolf. Well, we've got shields. Shall we fight it out?"

"With what?" said Jeff.

"I've got a long-range stun gun and a hand-blaster."

"Will they work on shielded cars?"

"No," admitted Albany.

"Does this car have shielding?"

"Are you kidding? With the Manhattan fiscal situation? No, only our personal shields, courtesy of Daddy."

"Then they'll destroy our hover-car in fifteen seconds, and we fall"-Jeff looked down for a quick estimate-"thirty stories, I think."

"You might as well surrender, then," Norby said. "That will give us time, and I'll be able to think of some way of saving the situation. I'm terribly ingenious."

"Is surrendering a sample of your ingenuity?" Albany asked. "Anyone can surrender-"

"There's nothing else to do right now," Jeff said, "and it may be the only way of finding Fargo. We'd better do it right away. One of Ing's cars looks as though it's bringing a blaster to bear on us." He turned off his shield and handed the device to Norby. "Can you hide this in your-uh-inside?"

"I suppose I can," Norby said, "but it will make me feel as though I have indigestion. Why don't you swallow it? You have a sort of hollow inside, too."

"Funny, funny. Here, take Miss Jones's."

Carefully, while making little noises of displeasure, Norby put away both shield devices as Albany took the hover-car down to the ground. They were followed, of course, and when the Ingrates swarmed out of their cars, Albany and Jeff surrendered.

They were careful to look scornful and superior when they gave themselves up. At least they tried, and it was especially hard for Jeff, who kept Norby under his arm. Norby made no attempt to look either scornful or superior. He merely concentrated on looking like a barrel.

The Central Park Precinct Station was inside an old brick building and had the aura of centuries of use and occasional slipshod repairs.

Sligh and Fister hustled Albany and Jeff toward the station's transmit. Despite the chronic shortage of municipal funds and the best efforts of every city councilman, there seemed no way of economizing on those transmits. Each police station simply had to have one for any necessary travel through space.

Jeff was still holding Norby. Sligh scowled. "You're not dragging that barrel around everywhere, Wells," he growled. "It made a lump on my head once, and you're not going to use it as a weapon again. Hand it over and I'll melt it down for scrap. Or we'll use it as ballast. Maybe we'll just smash it with a sledgehammer."

Jeff clutched Norby tightly. "I need this barrel," he said. "It's a device that's necessary to-to my health."

"Are you going to tell me you've hidden a kidney filter in that old barrel?"

"I didn't want to tell you."

"And I suppose you'll die without it?"

"I, ah…" Jeff hated to lie, but Sligh seemed to be doing it for him.

"You're not fooling me, you dumb kid," said Sligh. "You look too big and healthy to need any machine for your health. I bet that's got Wells money in it. Maybe gold. Give it over!"

Norby whispered through his hat, "Don't stand there, Jeff. Step back into the transmit."

Jeff paused to wonder what Norby had in mind, and suddenly he felt a pinch.

"Hurry up!"

Albany was already in the transmit. Fister and Sligh, facing it, were on either side of Jeff, who had his back to it. The pinch made Jeff jump backwards, and as he did, Norby's hands extended full length, pushing Fister and Sligh in the other direction, out of the transmit doorway.

Albany, reacting at once, slammed the door shut. "Now what? The transmit mechanism works from outside."

"Maybe so," said Norby, leaning against the door, "but I'm managing to work it through the metal-didn't I tell you I'm ingenious?"

"They're going to force their way in-" began Albany.

"I'm almost finished," Norby said.

"But we have to get to where they've taken Fargo," Jeff said.

"I'm sensing his presence," Norby said, "and I'm adjusting the controls so we'll go there directly. I hope."

A queasy sensation hit Jeff in the pit of his stomach, and he blacked out dizzily. When he came to, he saw that they were in a different transmit. He scrambled to his feet and helped Albany to hers. She brushed at her clothing and seemed pretty annoyed.

"You didn't exactly handle that in a smooth way, Norby," Jeff said.

"Well," said Albany, "I don't suppose we can blame your robot. The transmit is old and not working well. I don't think any of the city transmits have had repairs for five years."

"Norby, are you going to be able to get the doors open?" Jeff asked.

"In a minute. In a minute. And-on the other side-we will find your brother." The doors opened, and they stepped out into a huge, gray room. Overhead there was a section of glassite dome and beyond that a dim, rolling fog.

"Or maybe we won't," Norby said in a small voice.

"Where on earth-" said Albany.

"I don't think anywhere on Earth," said Jeff. "Norby! Where are we?"

"Is there a city named Titan anywhere on Earth?" Norby asked.

"A city named what?"

Jeff said blankly, "What does it say?"

"It's in Colonial German. That's another language I can teach you. It would come in handy anywhere beyond the asteroids."

"Beyond the asteroids?" said Jeff in a shout. "What does it say? I don't care if it's Sanskrit. What does it say?"

"It says 'Property of Titan outpost.' I figure Titan is a city in the German sector of the European Region and I just may have miscalculated a small bit."

"Titan," said Jeff in an exasperated tone, "is a satellite of Saturn, and you have miscalculated a whole lot."

"Are you sure?" Norby asked. "It could happen to anyone."

"Of course I'm sure. Where on Earth would we be under a dome? Look up there. You realize Titan has a thick atmosphere that is mostly nitrogen at a temperature near its liquefying point. You might have gotten us outside the dome, and then Miss Jones and I would have died a horrible death."

"How could I have gotten you outside the dome?" Norby shouted. 'I sensed human beings, and I thought it was Fargo. There are no human beings outside the Titan dome, so I wouldn't have brought you there. There are human beings inside the dome, and it's not my fault one of them isn't Fargo."