As for Sinbad, the cat had retreated to Dane’s cabin and steadily refused to leave the quarters he had chosen, resisting with tooth and claw the one time Dane had tried to take him back to Van Rycke’s office and his own hammock there.  Afterwards the Cargo-apprentice did not try to evict him—­there was comfort in seeing that plump gray body curled on the bunk he had little chance to use.

His nursing duties performed for the moment, Dane ventured into the hydro.  He was practiced in tending this vital heart of the ship’s air supply.  But outfitting a hydro was something else again.  In his cadet years he had aided in such a program at least twice as a matter of learning the basic training of the Service.  But then they had had unlimited supplies to draw on and the action had taken place under no more pressure than that exerted by the instructors.  Now it was going to be a far more tricky job—­

He went slowly down the aisle between the banks of green things.  Plants from all over the Galaxy, grown for their contribution to the air renewal—­as well as side products such as fresh fruit and vegetables, were banked there.  The sweet odor of their verdant life was strong.  But how could any of the four now on duty tell what was rightfully there and what might have been brought in?  And could they be sure anything had been introduced?

Dane stood there, his eyes searching those lines of greens—­such a mixture of greens from the familiar shade of Terra’s fields to greens tinged with shades first bestowed by other suns on other worlds—­looking for one which was alien enough to be noticeable.  Only Mura, who knew this garden as he knew his own cabin, could have differentiated between them.  They would just dump everything and trust to luck—­

He was suddenly aware of a slight movement in the banks—­a shivering of stem, quiver of leaf.  The mere act of his passing had set some sensitive plant to register his presence.  A lacy, fern-like thing was contracting its fronds into balls.  He should not stay—­disturbing the peace of the hydro.  But it made little difference now—­within a matter of hours all this luxuriance would be thrust out to die and they would have to depend upon canned oxgy and algae tanks.  Too bad—­the hydro represented much time and labor on Mura’s part and Tau had medical plants growing there he had been observing for a long time.

As Dane closed the door behind him, seeing the line of balled fern which had marked his passage, he heard a faint rustling, a sound as if a wind had swept across the green room within.  The imagination which was a Trader’s asset (when it was kept within bounds) suggested that the plants inside guessed—­With a frown for his own sentimentality, Dane strode down the corridor and climbed to check with Rip in control.