They'd been about twelve hours out when Kennett handed over the controls. He moved down the corridor into the middle part of the ship. Marnay heard him pounding and moving around back there for hours, but couldn't imagine what he was doing.

When he returned, Kennett pulled a lever and a heavy double door slid across, isolating the control room and part of the corridor from the rest of the ship. He volunteered no explanation, however.

On Marnay's off-duty he moved back toward those doors, experimentally. Kennett stopped him with: "Sorry, but this will have to be our quarters from now on."

Marnay nodded to himself. He was a newsman, a good one, and he knew people. He could see that Kennett was restless and impatient for action despite the fact that he was deliberately holding the Vera's speed down.

But Marnay said nothing, and on the second day out, Kennett seemed a little more talkative. He said: "I guess you've been wondering why I want so much to get Prather."

Marnay shrugged, but looked at his companion shrewdly. "Wondering? No, I'm not wondering. Only last month Tri-Planet Metals boosted the reward up to a half million."

"That so? I didn't know that. But then, I haven't thought much about the reward angle." Kennett sounded as though he meant it. He went on: "You know how Prather works, I suppose."

"Ramming?" Marnay said. "Yes, I know. His ship is supposed to be built of some tough new metal he found on Mercury. I've heard that even his tubes are made of it, and are slightly expansive under pressure, giving him greater speed than any tubes yet known."

"That's probably true," Kennett said. "But the important thing is, he can ram completely through any ordinary spacer. And usually does."

Marnay nodded. "I've heard such stories."

"You've heard such stories," Kennett repeated with a startling bitterness. "But I saw one—just one. Three years ago when I was a rookie on the Earth Patrol. We received a flash that Prather had rammed and looted a passenger liner enroute from Mars to Earth. The Salvage men were sent out to rescue any possible survivors. What headquarters really meant was that they were to do the mopping up—they knew there wouldn't be any survivors. I wasn't on Salvage duty then, but I grabbed a swift Patrol boat and got out there first, anyway...."

Kennett paused, and for 

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