"Sorry, sir. You know this requires special—"

"All right," Ric sighed. "Here's my pass!" He saw the guard relax for an instant. Ric poised on his toes and unleashed a long left that sent the guard staggering against the building. The man righted himself, muttered an oath and came boring in. But already Ric was following through with a vicious right; it connected with the angle of the guard's jaw, and he went down. Then Ric was inside the doors, sprinting down the corridor.

He found the hangar of the Falcon, a swift three-man cruiser which he knew well. A glance at the power-board showed him that it was fueled and ready. A minute later he was blasting upward, watching the city's lights drop swiftly away.

Once in free space, he set the robot-control. It would be thirty hours before he intercepted the Valiant somewhere in its plodding path for Earth. At least he could warn them! For he knew, now, that Wessell meant to go all the way—utter annihilation for the Valiant!

And this meant revolt—the overthrow of Earth's Supreme Council! Wessell had waited a long time for this, and there were men behind him, ready to back him to the hilt. The Mars crisis had provided a convenient spark.

But Ric wasn't thinking of Wessell now, nor the Earth Council, as he settled down to watchfulness. He was thinking of two thousand Martians, the last of their race, struggling to keep alive this last thin life-line of survival. He was thinking of death in space. Even if he warned them of Wessell's plan—where were they to go?

Hours later, his probing magni-finder picked out the Valiant from the depths of blackness. It was still vastly far away, a mere pin-point in his V-Panel, but Ric cut acceleration. He watched the Martian ship grow larger by the hour. He switched to his radio-beam and sent a message through, but it remained unanswered.

It was still unanswered when he drew close enough to cut his rockets altogether and go into a drift. Surely they were radio-equipped? There was only one explanation. They simply weren't expecting a spacer out here, so their beam was off power.

They wouldn't spot him, either. The Falcon was tiny by comparison, and solid black, undetectable against the backdrop of space. But he'd have to get aboard the Valiant some way! Slowly he brought his cruiser beneath the great ship's hull. He was more than ever impressed by the size of this Martian colossus.

And he was puzzled. There was something strange 

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