"Well, one reason is that the word he uses there is the same as the last place the pay book says he was posted to. We guess it means Luna because that's where we found him. Another reason is that later on, as you'll have read, he talks about being sent specifically to a base called Seltar. Now, we've found a reference among some of the things turned up on Farside to a list of bases on place 'X,' and the name Seltar appears on the list. X is the same word that is written in the pay book and in the entry you've just read. Implication: X is a Lunarian name for Earth's Moon."

Hunt thought hard for a while.

"He arrived at Seltar, too, didn't he?" he said at last. "So if he knew where he was being sent as early as that, and you're certain he was being sent to the Moon, and he got where he was supposed to go . . . that rules out the other possibility that occurred to me. There's no way he could have been scheduled for Luna but rerouted somewhere else at the last minute without the entry in the pay book being changed, is there?"

Maddson shook his head. "No way. Why'd you want to make up things like that anyhow?"

"Because I'm looking for ways to get around what comes later. It gets crazy."

Maddson looked at Hunt curiously but suppressed his question. Hunt looked down at the papers again.

"Days Three and Four describe news reports of the fighting on Minerva. Obviously a large-scale conflict had already broken out there. It looks as if nuclear weapons were being used by then—that bit near the end of Day Four, for instance: It looks like the Lambians have succeeded in confusing the (sky nets?) over Paverol—That's a Cerian town, isn't it? Over half the city vaporized instantly. That doesn't sound like a limited skirmish. What's a sky net—some kind of electronic defense screen?"

"Probably," Maddson agreed.

"Day Five he spent helping to load the ships. From the descriptions of the vehicles and equipment, it sounds as if they were embarking a large military force of some kind." Hunt scanned rapidly down the next sheet. "Ah, yes—this is where he mentions Seltar. We're going with the Fourteenth Brigade to join the Annihilator emplacement at Seltar. There's something crazy about this Annihilator. But we'll come back to that in a minute.

"Day Seven. Embarked four hours ago as scheduled. Still sitting here. Takeoff delayed, since whole area under heavy missile attack. Hills inland all on fire. Launching pits intact but situation overhead confused. Unneutralized Lambian satellites still covering our flight path.