ery.

Brad reached out to extend the gooseneck of the mike toward him.

* * * * *

But the stellar grid showing through the direct-view port was blotted
out suddenly. He jerked his gaze to the scope. The Queen was
overhead--almost within grappling distance!

He started to shout out, but at the same time brilliant hell exploded
outside.

The Cluster Queen's jetwash raked across the upper bow of the Fleury,
throwing its nose down and its tail up and over in a hateful, wrenching
spin.

The spin continued, losing none of its neck-snapping vehemence, as the
Queen burst off into space. The harness cut across Brad's aching arm and
set up a new, rending torture. But his good arm shot out and found the
forward belly jet lever.

With what mushily reacted like the last erg of energy in the normal
drive converter tanks, the jet responded feebly. He nursed the power
carefully, determined not to waste juice through overcorrection. Finally
the Fleury steadied and resumed immobility of attitude.

"Sorry, Conally," Altman apologized with exaggerated concern. "But her
majesty's acting up frisky-like. Can't seem to do much with her....
Maybe if you came aboard we might find some way to quiet her down. How
about it?"

Brad bit his lips and tightened his good fist until fingernails knifed
into the palm. "No, damn you!" he shouted with all the volume his lungs
could muster.

He summoned all the spacewise epithets any stevedore or crewman had ever
used, added a few he imagined no one had thought of before, and held
them in abeyance until Altman would answer.

But no sound came out of the speaker.

The reason was apparent on the scope. A half dozen of the massive crates
had crashed through the hull--this time out of hold number One, the
massometer showed--and the Cluster Queen was on her way to take them
aboard.

But he was more concerned with another complication. The red power
utilization indicator of the good hypertube was in motion, swinging back
to zero on its dial. He saw the flicker of the needle in the corner of
his vision.

He checked the suspicion against the blips on the scope and obtained
verification ... the outlines of the Queen and the crates were fuzzy,
despite the fact they were still nearby spatially. The fuzziness could
only result from the Fleury's being removed hyperspatially from that
vicinity.

He had accidentally touched the hyperjet lever while applying normal
power