outside. A bell clanged—signal to unlock the port—and he got up, reached for the wheel on the safety door.

But Karen—it was odd that he didn't seem to think of her as Miss Vaun any more—reached out and stopped his hand on the wheel. "Mr. Flint," she said softly, "take me with you—to hunt the bat."

Flint stared at her, not believing her words. Hudson took her arm. "Now, Karen. You've had a very trying experience. You should—"

She jerked away from him. "Please let me go, Mr. Flint. This means more to me than you know. I haven't forgotten what you said about my not being a real woman. You're right. I've been nothing but a walking adding machine and I—"

"Look," Flint tried to put a stop to it, "if you'd let yourself go you'd be a pretty decent human being, mighty pretty without your glasses." He spun the wheel out of her grasp. "But I've got work to do now."

"Please!" she cried. "If—" But she never finished that; she stepped back from the door quickly as the man in the space suit came in from the other ship—Greeno, taking no chances on future identification. Wrinkled like a prune, the uninflated suit covered his body completely; only his eyes were visible through their glass slit.

"It's all off, Greeno," Flint said. "We ran across a bat on the way out! It's headed toward the Ring. Take these people back to Saturn and—" But the man in the space suit had whipped out his hand, caught Karen Vaun by the wrist.

It was only then that Flint remembered Greeno couldn't hear him, not only couldn't hear him because he was deaf but couldn't read his thoughts because he was surrounded by the metal hull of the ship. He stepped over and grabbed him by the shoulder, pointed to the girl, shook his head violently. "Cut it out! Skip it! It's all off!" he mouthed, hoping Greeno might read his lips.

"Who is it?" Hudson and Leggett looked on nervously. "What's he trying to do?"

Flint started to explain, but then how could he explain that he'd planned to kidnap Karen Vaun and changed his mind. He continued his sign language at Greeno.

Karen struggled, trying to free herself. "I don't understand! Stop him!"

Finally, Flint threw an arm around Greeno's neck. There was nothing else to do. Hudson grabbed Greeno's arm, tried to pry loose his grasp on the girl.

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