as. Without being bitten,
the virus cannot spread. We've found the cause. We've got it licked."

He was aware of sweat appearing on his face, the sweat of pure relief.
He sank back into his chair. Buster, recovering from his indignity at
the outrage he had suffered, jumped to the top of the desk, settled down
with his nose against the glass, watching the dead creature inside the
bell jar.

"He caught one of those things right in this cabin," Thompson whispered.
A shudder passed over him and was gone. He had been so close to death,
and had not known it. Buster had saved him.

Instead of seeking protection from him, the cat, in a sense, had been
protecting him. His gaze centered fondly on the cat.

"What if there are more of those things in the ship?" Fortune spoke.

"We can solve that one," Thompson spoke. "Space suits. And, now that we
know what we're looking for, we can clean out the ship. If we don't,
Buster will do it for us."

"Space suits!" As if he had heard no more than those two words, Fortune
ran from the room. He returned with three suits. They hastily donned
them.

"No damned bug can bite through one of these things," Neff said
exultantly. "Say, what about Grant? Hadn't we better take him a suit
too?"

"I should say so. Fortune...." But Fortune was already leaving the room
on his errand. Thompson snapped open the intercom system. "Grant?"

"Yes, what is it?"

"We've found the cause and we've got the disease licked."

Grant's voice a shout coming back from the control room. "Thank God.
I've been sitting here watching Sol grow bigger and bigger...." His
voice suddenly choked, went into silence, then came again, asking a
question. "Is it all right to change course now?"

"Definitely it's all right," Thompson answered. "In fact, it's an
order."

An instant later, the ship groaned as the direction of flight was
shifted. Thompson took a deep breath, was aware that Neff was staring at
him. "What was that he said about watching Sol grow bigger and bigger?
Say, what course were we on?"

"Collision course with the sun," Thompson answered.

"What?" Neff gasped. "Do you mean to say that you were going to throw
the ship into the sun?"

Slowly Thompson nodded. "I didn't know whether we would be alive or not
but I didn't want this ship to enter Sol Cluster and turn loose there
the virus that had already depopulated a planet."

He spoke slowly, with the sure knowledge of a desperate danger safely
passe