heart stop. Then the ship settled. There was a bump. A moment of rocking, and they had landed!

McPartland spoke into the intra-ship phone: "Attention all stations! All hands remain at their posts until further orders." He turned from the instrument, trying again to find those about him. "Mister McTavish. You will go out with me.

"Mister Clemens, you are in command. Take no action without orders from me—or Marshal Denton himself."

"Very good, Sir," replied the Lieutenant-Commander.

"I am at the door, Sir," said the Engineer.

"Good. Mister Reynolds will close the port behind us. No one is to enter the ship, Mister Clemens, unless accompanied by myself or the Marshal. We don't know what the situation is here, and we can't take chances. Is that clear?"

"Very clear, Sir," Clemens answered, his tone anxious. "Mister Reynolds will remain at the port, and open it only as instructed."

The three of them groped down the passage. At the port, McPartland spoke into the blackness: "I've switched on audiphone, Mister Reynolds. You will open the port only to my voice or that of Marshal Denton."

"Yes, Sir," was the answer, the words spoken almost into his ear.

Jon reached out and found the other's arm. The Captain's fingers gripped hard, biting into muscle. "We'll soon have the answer to your question," he said softly. "If the Patrol still holds the Base—"

"Good luck, Sir," replied the Ray Control Officer quietly. "We'll be waiting to follow you—anywhere."

The Captain found his Engineer in the well of pitch about him. There was reassurance in the other's tense, firm shoulder. Together, they went through the port, and heard Reynolds shut it behind them.

A sharp rattle of explosions sounded in the distance, off to their left. "Man!" gasped McTavish, "that sounds like—"

"Like a machine-gun," finished his commander. "An old-fashioned explosive powder weapon. Ray guns are useless, of course, without ether."

"There's fighting," the Engineer cried eagerly. A single louder explosion came from the left. The sound hung in the air, muffled and distorted. "A grenade," McTavish added mechanically. "It was thrown into a 

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