g in.

He was two-thirds of the way along the spoke to the rim when it
happened. There was a tremendous crash that flung him violently from his
feet. He felt a coldness, instant and terrible.

He was dying.

He was dead.

The ferry had been coming in on a perfectly normal approach when the
tiny something went wrong, in the ship or in the judgment of the pilot.
Its drive-rockets suddenly blasted on full, it heeled over sharply, it
smashed through the big starboard spoke like a knife through butter.

Wheel Five staggered, rocked, and floundered. The automatic safety
bulkheads had all closed, and the big spoke--Section T2--was the only
section to blow its air, and Kieran was the only man caught in it. The
alarms went off, and while the wreckage of the ferry, with three dead
men in it, was still drifting close by, everyone in the Wheel was in his
pressure-suit and emergency measures were in full force.

* * * * *

Within thirty minutes it became evident that the Wheel was going to
survive this accident. It was edging slowly out of orbit from the
impetus of the blow, and in the present weakened state of the
construction its small corrective rockets could not be used to stop the
drift. But Meloni, the UNRC captain commanding, had got first reports
from his damage-control teams, and it did not look too bad. He fired
off peremptory demands for the repair materials he would need, and was
assured by UNRC headquarters at Mexico City that the ferries would be
loaded and on their way as soon as possible.

Meloni was just beginning to relax a little when a young officer brought
up a minor but vexing problem. Lieutenant Vinson had headed the small
party sent out to recover the bodies of the four dead men. In their
pressure-suits they had been pawing through the tangled wreckage for
some time, and young Vinson was tired when he made his report.

"We have all four alongside, sir. The three men in the ferry were pretty
badly mangled in the crash. Kieran wasn't physically wounded, but died
from space-asphyxiation."

The captain stared at him. "Alongside? Why didn't you bring them in?
They'll go back in one of the ferries to Earth for burial."

"But--" Vinson started to protest.

Meloni interrupted sharply. "You need to learn a few things about
morale, Lieutenant. You think it's going to do morale here any good to
have four dead men floating alongside where everyone can see them? Fetch
them in