Bayliss Kent going to succeed in his plan to force the Commander to reverse the ship and return to Earth?

Not if they depended on Peter Conroy to navigate for them, they wouldn't!

Conroy, working his way down the tube, suddenly felt emptiness as he lowered one foot. He had come to the end of the vertical tube. Twisting himself upright, he dropped the remaining six feet into the huge arterial tube that ran horizontally into this sector of the ship. The escape hatch shouldn't be too far from here. The pipes needed cleaning after the irrigation period was over and the tubes had entrance ports for the purpose. Conroy strode down the tube in total darkness, keeping one hand against the side. He opened the hatch and found himself in one of the pumping rooms.

"Halt right there!" a voice said. "You're under arrest!"

It was one of the pumping room guards, levelling a snub-nosed stun gun at him. "Who are you? You know it's illegal to be in the irrigation tubes without authorization."

"I know," said Conroy. He knew he had no time to make explanations. He had to get to the Ship's Commander.

He stepped forward too quickly for the astonished guard to react. His fist ploughed into the man's chin, and his other arm deflected the snout of the stun gun just enough to send the neutrino stream over his left shoulder. The gun clattered to the floor.

The guard turned, aimed a wild swing. Conroy walked inside the other man's guard and dropped him with a short punch to the stomach. Whirling, he grabbed the stun gun and gave the man a brief, numbing blast.

Opening the entrance to the tube, he dumped the unconscious guard in, saluted the disappearing man with grim irony, and slammed the door closed, jamming the lock. It would be quite some time before the guard found his way out of the tubes.

He put the stun gun in his belt and pulled his tunic down over it. Then he headed for the levitator shaft that would take him up to Officer's Territory.

It was not easy for a young officer to get to see the Captain; the old man held many lives in his hands, and he was busy most of the time. But Peter Conroy didn't dare trust his message to one of the underlings; he had no way of knowing how many of them were already sympathizers with Bayliss Kent. Undoubtedly, many of the younger officers were with him.

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