aura around it lending to the ghostly appearance. It must have encompassed miles, for even at this distance it was looming larger by the minute.

"Close enough," Tal announced at last. "We'd better get ready to trans-ship!"

They worked fast. Ric sighted the controls to pin-point precision, then locked them into place. Tal Horan was standing ready at the inter-lock by which they would trans-ship to the smaller spacer.

Ric gave a last look at the controls ... then threw them over to full blast. He sprang through the lock, as the ship leaped ahead like a monster unleashed. With a sweep of the hand Tal released the magni-plates, and was leaping after him. It was close! Their smaller ship was sent spinning free, end over end, "falling" back toward Phobos' shell.

Ric crashed against a wall, was dazed for a moment. He managed to drag himself forward to the controls. He groped blindly, was able to throw on the rocket power which served to stabilize them somewhat. He dragged himself upright, then, and realized that the worst was yet to come.

If that explosion reached them!... They must keep ahead of it at all costs. Ric opened the rockets wide, and gasped at the surge of power. These new rockets were blast proof indeed!

Tal was at the stern ports now, watching the larger ship driving away from them. Soon it had vanished into the gray-blue distance. The explosion would be soon....

Minutes passed. Then it came. They saw it first, a blinding flash of light that seemed to encompass all of space within Phobos' shell! But it would be more minutes before they felt the actual concussion. They were speeding away recklessly, speeding with gravity now! And before Ric quite realized it, they were nearing the outer shell again and he had to break speed.

Then his heart sank within him. Due to that wild spin, he had lost direction! The huge air-lock, where Praana waited, was nowhere in sight.

Precious seconds passed, as Ric brought the spacer skimming the inside of the shell like a pebble inside a bottle! Panic gripped him. This would be the end, if they didn't find that air-lock! It was the only passage to outer space. When the full concussion reached this shell, it would flatten them!

He heard Tal shouting in his ear. "The city! There's the city!" He was gesturing frantically, far to the left. Ric headed for it recklessly and swept over the city 

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