the ruptured tube, a few utensils. It didn't make any
difference. The crew members who would handle the "body" would believe
it felt as torn apart as any other space suited body that experienced
spillthrough at a snail's pace.

"To add weight, I broke open a bin of hematite and poured about a
hundred pounds or so of the stuff into the suit. I stirred it gently;
got more hematite--red ocher, you know--and half-filled the helmet. We
had enough control column oil left to wet it down rather thoroughly. The
new mixture had a rich, dark-red color, just like I thought it would. I
sloshed the goo around in the helmet so all the inner surface was coated
with the mixture and with small bits of indistinguishable odds and ends;
then I clamped the dome onto the suit and harnessed it in the pilot's
seat.

"I put on my own helmet again, went aft and crawled into a half-busted
crate. With the wrist propulsor, I jockeyed the thing out of the hold to
make damned sure it would break free of the Fleury's system and wouldn't
spill through with the ship. After I saw I was drifting off, I worked my
way well into the bracing between the crate and the inter-calc unit so I
couldn't be seen through the broken sections of the box.

"Sure enough--about three hours later, along comes grabbenheimer," he
threw a thumb in Altman's direction, "with his grapples. I was able to
squeeze out of the suit an hour or so after that. But I've been cramped
up in that crate for two days, with only emergency rations."

* * * * *

Altman loosed a sarcastic laugh and turned to the inspector. "It's a
damned clever trick, inspector!" he shouted. "I been grappled in on the
scheme.... Like I said, I arrived when he was slipping through. I
couldn't do anything to stop it. Naturally I wasn't going to let the
cargo go to waste. Naturally I was going to bring back what I thought
was his body--regulations say I gotta do that.

"But he knew for a couple of hours that I was coming in answer to his
SOS. I had gotten a fix on the point where he was slipping through and
he was certain I would follow the Fleury through to normal space, pick
up his body and the cargo that was aboard and go back into hyper to get
the rest of the cargo. He had time to make all those preparations. So he
dreams up the scheme of hiding in with the cargo that's free in hyper
and telling this story later. You see...."

Brad laughed. "Your tongue's working a little too