saying. "There has to be a control room somewhere."

Aziz said, "Maybe there's another door behind all the junk in there. I'll get it outta the old man."

As Vicenzo's spacesuited figure appeared below in the doorway, Henry swung his arm. The spanner clanged against the back of Vicenzo's helmet. The man tumbled across the compartment into the netting. The rocket launcher whirled from his hands, struck the ceiling, and bounced to the deck.

Slashing upward with his knife, Aziz twisted into the compartment. Henry met the thrust with the spanner and knocked the knife from the squat man's hand. Aziz bellowed, "Ya greasy cube! I'll squash ya!"

Aziz swung his gauntleted fist. Henry struck Aziz across the arm with the spanner, denting the metal of the spacesuit. Vicenzo jerked his head from a box and roared, "Get him! He busted my skull!"

Henry jumped from the net to the corner beside the desk. The two men slowly stalked him. Vicenzo had his knife, and Aziz experimentally flexed his metal-sheathed hands.

"We're going to fix you, Henry," Vicenzo promised. "You're just a little smarter than you should be."

"He ain't smart atall," Aziz growled. "What for did ya want to turn cube, Henry? I told ya yer name'd be in ever' yap, if ya stuck with us. Now, nobody'll know ya when I get done."

Henry debated with himself, trying to decide if the situation justified a falsehood. He said, "Get away while you can! Ranjit says he'll crash this sweeper before he'll let you steal it! He's in the control room now."

Aziz stopped and glanced around. "Ya think he will?" he asked.

"No," Vicenzo said. He circled to Henry's left.

Henry raised the spanner and kept his eyes on Vicenzo's knife. Aziz moved to Henry's right. The deck seemed to tilt. Henry clutched a leg of the desk to keep from falling.

Vicenzo and Aziz, waving their arms, leaned at an increasingly acute angle. Their boots broke from the magnetic deck. They fell slowly, accelerating at about two meters per second, and dropped into the netted wall which had become the floor.

Henry dangled below what was now the ceiling. Objects fell from the net beside him. Tools, machine parts, books, and canned food slowly showered down on Vicenzo and Aziz, who thrashed and 

 Prev. P 16/18 next