The next day in Kisangani, Kiah and Rilla waited quietly in an office in Gog's house. Suddenly, Commander Zadak came into the office and gave some letters to the man behind the table. He saw the two young people and stopped in front of them.

"You again!" he said. "What are you doing here?"

"No." Zadak looked at Kiah and then at Rilla with his blue eyes. "I'm not talking to Gog again. And you-Gog isn't going to listen to you. Be careful-and good luck!"

Kiah stood up. "Good morning, Commander. We're here because we want to see Earth Commander."

"Please help us!" Rilla cried. "Come and see Gog with us!"

"I saw Earth Commander some minutes ago and talked to him about rain," Zadak said quietly. "But he didn't listen. Your captain, Seru, was here earlier this morning and began to tell him about the holes in the AOL. But Gog doesn't want to hear about our planet. He's always talking about Mars. In the end, he's going to destroy Earth."

Commander Zadak opened the door and left the office.

Rilla looked at Kiah. "Earth Commander is a difficult man. I don't understand him."

Kiah and Rilla sat down on the expensive green and black chairs and looked at the expensive flowers on the tables. There were no windows in this room. Suddenly, the door opened and a tall, fat woman came in. Her name was Bel, and she was Gog's wife. She had a lot of long red hair and she wore an expensive blue dress. Bel liked expensive things. She carried a cat. The cat was black and white: half its face was black and half was white; half its body was black and half was white.

"Everyone is afraid of him," Kiah said. "And Commander Zadak isn't going to help us."

Kiah and Rilla waited. They waited and waited. At nearly twelve o'clock, a guard came into the office.

"Wait here," the guard said, and left.

"Come!" he said.

"Why are you here? Why do you want to see Earth Commander?" she asked.

Kiah and Rilla went with the guard. The house was big and old, with big windows and many doors. The guard went downstairs and opened one of the doors. There was nobody in the room.

Rilla stood up. "How do you do?" she said. "We want to talk to Earth Commander about the AOL. We have new numbers from the satellite."

Bel's face was red. "The AOL! Earth Commander knows about the AOL, and he is the best man --"

"Excuse me," Kiah said quietly. "We want to help Earth Commander."

Bel began to laugh. "Help? You?" the cat jumped down and walked across the room. "How can you help? Why can't you understand? Listen. Earth Commander is working on the spaceship for Mars. It's difficult and expensive work." the cat jumped on to Rilla's chair and looked at her with its yellow eyes. "Two years ago, Adai wanted more money for the AOL-and Earth Commander sent him to the colony under the Moon. Now you're talking about the AOL. Do you want to go to the Moon, too?"

The door opened again and a different guard came in. "Excuse me. Earth Commander is ready now."

Bel stood up. "You can see Earth Commander now," she said coldly. "But you're going to be sorry!"

The guard opened a different door, and Bel and the cat went into a beautiful room with expensive, very old tables and chairs. Rilla and Kiah went in behind them. There were no windows in the room, but a lot of pictures. There was Gog! The richest man on Earth; and the worst man on Earth. He was tall and fat, and without much hair. He sat behind a big table with a television, three computers and five telephones. He watched the television and didn't look at Kiah or Rilla. Two guards with guns stood behind him and two more guards stood near the door.

"That's all right, that's all right," Gog said quickly. And then he looked up, first at Rilla and then at Kiah. His eyes were cold and green. "I know about you two," he said. "Your captain told me about you. You're famous! Two children! You want to help planet Earth, is that right?" He waited. The cat jumped on to his table and sat down in front of the television.

"Yes, Commander," Kiah began. "The AOL is breaking up --"

"But the satellite --" Kiah began again.

"Here they are!" Bel said. "They aren't friends, oh no! They want to talk about the AOL, of course. No one under-stands about Mars --"

"Be quiet!" Gog cried. "I am Earth Commander! I'm not going to give money for the AOL! Or for rain! Or for the Moon!" Gog looked at the guards near the door. "Take them -- take them away. I don't want to hear them."

The guards moved behind Kiah and Rilla, and Bel began to laugh. "Goodbye!" she said. "You're not going to the Moon, you're going to prison! You can talk about the holes in the AOL there!"

"When? Tonight? Tomorrow?" Gog said angrily. "I heard this old story two years ago, from Adai. Everyone comes here and wants money-money for the AOL, money for rain, money for the Moon colony. But I am Earth Commander, and you are nobody! I know about the AOL and the AOL is good for a hundred years!"