"When"ll we have our wedding, Sylvie?" he asked as they went off together.

"Well, before Dad goes to Aditya with the _Genji_. That"ll have to be in a month."

"Two weeks? That ought to be plenty of time to get ready, and let people recover from this one."

"Everybody"s here now. Let"s make it a double wedding tomorrow," she suggested.

He hadn"t been prepared for that. "Well, I hadn"t expected.... Sure!

Good idea!" he agreed.

There was a crowd in Rodney Maxwell"s little office--Fawzi and some others, and some Storisende people. One of the latter was vociferating:

"Jake Vyckhoven"s no good, and he never was any good!"

"Well, you have to admit, if he hadn"t ordered the banks and the Stock Exchange closed that time, we"d have had a horrible panic--"

"Admit nothing of the kind! Jethro, you were there, you"ll bear me out. About a dozen of us were at Executive Palace for hours, bullying him into that. Why, we almost had to twist one of his arms while he was signing the order with the other. And now he has the gall to run for re-election on the strength of his heroic actions at the time of the Travis Hoax!"

"I know who we want for President!" another Storisende man exclaimed.

"He"s right here in this room!"

"Yes!" Rodney Maxwell almost bellowed, before the other man could say anything else. "Here he is!" He grabbed Kurt Fawzi by the arm and yanked him to his feet. "Here"s the man most responsible for finding Merlin; the man who first suggested sending my son Conn to Terra to school, the man who, more than anyone else, devoted his life to the search for Merlin, the man whose inextinguishable faith and indomitable courage kept that search alive through its darkest hours.

Everybody, get a drink; a toast to our next President, Kurt Fawzi!"

Conn was sure he heard his father add: "Ghu, what a narrow escape!"

Then he and Sylvie began chanting, in unison, "_We want Fawzi! We want Fawzi!_"

If you enjoyed this novel, you will also want to read:

s.p.a.cE VIKING by H. BEAM PIPER

After a galaxy-wide war had left the planetary federation in ruins, every surviving civilized world was on its own. And that was a perfect setup for the marauders from the far-out rim.

Trask was one of those dreaded s.p.a.ce Vikings, a warrior s.p.a.ceman with a crew and a ship that struck terror to a thousand worlds. But Trask had a special personal interest In scourging the stars--he wanted to draw upon himself the fire of a certain enemy--a renegade planet-wrecker with a yen for galactic empire building.

Here"s a quick checklist of recent releases of

ACE SCIENCE-FICTION BOOKS

F-231 STAR GATE by Andre Norton

F-236 THE TIME TRADERS by Andre Norton

F-237 THE SHIP FROM OUTSIDE by A. Bertram Chandler _and_ BEYOND THE GALACTIC RIM by A. Bertram Chandler

F-239 TIME AND AGAIN by Clifford D. Simak

F-240 WHEN THE SLEEPER WAKES by H. G. Wells

F-241 STAR BRIDGE by Jack Williamson and J. Gunn

F-242 THE RITES OF OHE by John Brunner _and_ CASTAWAYS" WORLD by John Brunner

F-243 LORD OF THUNDER by Andre Norton

F-246 METROPOLIS by Thea von Harbou

F-248 BEYOND THE STARS by Ray c.u.mmings

F-249 THE HAND OF ZEI by L. Sprague de Camp _and_ THE SEARCH FOR ZEI by L. Sprague de Camp

F-251 THE GAME-PLAYERS OF t.i.tAN by Philip K. d.i.c.k

F-253 ONE OF OUR ASTEROIDS IS MISSING by Calvin M. Knox _and_ THE TWISTED MEN by A. E. van Vogt

F-255 THE PRODIGAL SUN by Philip E. High

F-257 ALIEN PLANET by Fletcher Pratt

F-259 PRINCE OF PERIL by Otis Adelbert Kline

F-261 THE TOWERS OF TORON by Samuel R. Delany _and_ THE LUNAR EYE by Robt. M. Williams

F-263 WEB OF THE WITCH WORLD by Andre Norton

If you are missing any of these, they can be obtained directly from the publisher by sending the indicated sum, plus 5 cent handling fee, to Ace Books, Inc. (Dept. M M), 1120 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10036

"Is there really a Merlin?"

Everybody on the war-torn planet Poictesme believed it existed. And they all believed that when this super-gigantic computer was located amid the mountains of surplus equipment that was the planet"s sole source of revenue, it would mean Utopia for everyone.

Conn Maxwell knew different. He had studied the records on Earth and he thought he knew the true facts about this cosmic computer. To tell them would be to panic Poictesme, so instead he set about a new search in his own way--with startling results.

H. Beam Piper, author of s.p.a.cE VIKING, has again produced an original and unusual novel of the s.p.a.ce future.