Albrekt lowered the gun slightly.

"If I were afraid to die I wouldn't be here," he replied. "You're not baiting me for nothing, Carrel. What are you after?"

"I don't think you realize how many millions of miles your Flanjo ship had to come to the rendezvous point," said Carrel. "As much as your friends want this cargo, they won't stay around long. Solar Council ships probably heard that broadcast."

"What makes you think they can find us?" sneered Albrekt. "We can't call them either."

"They can't find us," replied Carrel calmly. "The chances are a million to one against it, and we don't have enough time for chances like that."

Ice seemed to enter Albrekt's veins. He glared at them from angry eyes. They were inching closer to him. Already they were halfway across the control room.

"Stand back!" he said, his voice trembling. "I'll burn all of you!"

"And die alone, Albrekt?" Carrel's brittle voice was like the blow of a hammer against rock.

On the screen behind Carrel, the orb of Jupiter floated off the port bow, red and ominous. Giant of the heavens, its tremendous mass could snatch them from the sky, crush and break them like moths.

All the vast loneliness of space swept over Albrekt on wings of fear. It was too much for a planet-bound mind to face. The last companionship even of enemies was better than solitary death.

"No," he muttered, beaten, and the heat gun drooped in his hand. Qoqol's eight-foot arm reached in like a striking snake to lift it from his nerveless grasp.

"Good work, Qoqol," said Carrel heartily. "I had an idea the Flanjo tradition of superiority would break in the face of the inevitable. It was worth risking, now that we know we're safe."

"Safe?" said Albrekt bitterly. "Safe for what? To fall into Jupiter?"

"Well, now," said Carrel drolly, "I believe I neglected to say that our spiral toward Jupiter will intercept the Solar Council base on Callisto, didn't I? Yes sir, it's one of the neatest orbits Qoqol has ever plotted."

"What?" demanded Albrekt, stunned. "You mean we're in a controlled orbit?"

"Why, yes, my Flanjo 

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