r by the second as it sped toward them. Sabo
felt the fear spill over in his mind, driving out all thought, and he
sank into the control chair like a well-trained automaton. His gray eyes
were wide, trained for long military years to miss nothing; his fingers
moved over the panel with deft skill. "Get the men to stations," he
growled, "and will somebody kindly get the Skipper down here, if he can
manage to take a minute."

"I'm right here." The little graying man was at his elbow, staring at
the screen with angry red eyes. "Who told you to shut off the alarm?"

"Nobody told me. Everyone was here, and it was getting on my nerves."

"What a shame." Captain Loomis' voice was icy. "I give orders on this
Station," he said smoothly, "and you'll remember it." He scowled at the
great gray ship, looming closer and closer. "What's its course?"

"Going to miss us by several thousand kilos at least. Look at that
thing! It's _traveling_."

"Contact it! This is what we've been waiting for." The captain's voice
was hoarse.

Sabo spun a dial, and cursed. "No luck. Can't get through. It's passing
us--"

"Then _grapple_ it, stupid! You want me to wipe your nose, too?"

Sabo's face darkened angrily. With slow precision he set the servo fixes
on the huge gray hulk looming up in the viewer, and then snapped the
switches sharply. Two small servos shoved their blunt noses from the
landing port of the Station, and slipped silently into space alongside.
Then, like a pair of trained dogs, they sped on their beams straight out
from the Station toward the approaching ship. The intruder was dark,
moving at tremendous velocity past the Station, as though unaware of its
existence. The servos moved out, and suddenly diverged and reversed,
twisting in long arcs to come alongside the strange ship, finally moving
in at the same velocity on either side. There was a sharp flash of
contact power; then, like a mammoth slow-motion monster, the ship jerked
in midspace and turned a graceful end-for-end arc as the servo-grapplers
gripped it like leeches and whined, glowing ruddy with the jolting power
flowing through them. Sabo watched, hardly breathing, until the great
ship spun and slowed and stopped. Then it reversed direction, and the
servos led it triumphantly back toward the landing port of the Station.

Sabo glanced at the radioman, a frown creasing his forehead. "Still
nothing?"

"Not a peep."

He stared out at the great ship, feeling a chil