thought I'd live to see the day I'd go fond and blissful over a gallon of boiled noodles, but that's just what happened. I dug in, and so did the skipper. In less time than I've taken to tell it, we had that incinerator-cannon empty, swabbed out and ready for use as a cannon-incinerator.Then the captain clapped a hand to his forehead."Omigawd--I clean forgot! The firing-plate! There ain't no vision-field for this gun!""Oh, yes there is!" cried Captain Slops. "Over your head, there--the galley-vent. I--I removed the atmosphere-duct and installed a vision-field. Use the crossed wires for a target centering device."I flung open the vent. As he had said, the vent had been converted into a perfect firing-plate. There before me, a fat and gladsome target, was the largest of the enemy ships which had captured us, the flagship of Ras Thuul's fleet. As I watched, I saw the commander and his boarding party re-enter their own craft.I said grimly, "Well, it's six against one. They'll blast us out of space, but by the purple gods of Pluto, we'll take at least one of them with us. This thing is connected?"And I reached for the trigger. But once again Slops held my hand."No, Joey! There's a fighting chance we can get _all_ of them. Wait till they cut the tractor beams and we're free of them. Then turn the cannon _upward_ toward the Belt--""Upward?" I repeated dazedly. It didn't make sense. I glanced outside to make sure. Here was the situation. The planetoid Vesta lay about a mile or so below us. Larger than most of the meteoric and planetesimal fragments that comprise the Belt, its orbit was irregular. The smaller hunks of rock--and of course when you talk about "smaller" asteroids that means shards ranging anywhere from a yard to several miles in diameter, with weights ranging from a hundred pounds to twice that many thousands of tons--were whirling and swirling _above_ our ships in a tight, lethal little huddle. That, of course, was the _melee_ into which Ras Thuul planned to plunge us after he cut his tractor beams.       

Surprisingly, it was O'Hara who seconded Andy Laney."Do what he says, Joe. I don't know exactly what he has in mind, but it's his pigeon. He's steered us right this far; we might as well go whole-hog.""Thank you, Captain!" said Slops gratefully. And as he spoke the words, the _Leo_ rocked violently. With gathering speed we began to move away from our erstwhile captors, their tractor beams now released. Upward we surged toward the web-work of flailing missiles that spelled pure destruction."Now, Joey!" almost screamed Slops. "Aim the cannon at the rubble. Hold it firm. Full strength!"And I did. I yanked the controls over to full power and aimed the heat gun straight into the heart of the 

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