ntrol room, and forced his body
around the door jamb and inside. Against the far wall Maher was
plastered, dazed, but conscious. At his feet lay Heinie, his head
crushed, obviously dead.

"Cut off the rest of the jets!" gasped Maher. "I can't make it!"

Gene crawled slowly around the room, following the wall, until he could
reach the controls, then he pulled the lever that controlled the jet
blast. The ship's unnatural veering stopped instantly and both Maher and
Gene dropped heavily to the floor.

Gene was up first and helped Maher to his feet. Together they turned to
the indicators.

"Passenger deck's out!" said Maher. "Except for a few compartments. The
automatic seals have operated. But there must be somebody left alive in
them."

"We've got to get them," said Gene. "But first, we've got to check up on
what damage has been done here, and how many casualties we have."

"Heinie's dead," said Maher. "He hit the wall with his head."

Gene shuddered, and deep in his stomach nausea churned. He thought of
Ann and his blood froze in his veins. "You take below decks, I'll go
up," he said. Ann's cabin was on the deck above.

Maher nodded and staggered away. Gene scrambled up the stairwell as fast
as he could, and ran down the corridor. At Ann's door he stopped, turned
the knob. The door opened. The room was empty.

Suddenly he heard running footsteps, and Ann threw herself into his
arms, sobbing.

"Where were you?" he asked, almost savagely.

"I went to your cabin, to see if you were hurt. What happened to the
ship?"

"Meteorite hit us. Knocked out the passenger deck. Most of the
passengers will be dead, but we've got to go in and rescue the
survivors."

Doors were opening here and there and the crew members able to make it
were congregating around them. They went to the recreation room. There
Gene counted noses. Five crewmen were missing. Of those present, six men
were injured, and one woman exhibited a black eye, accentuating her
other abnormalities. The three prisoners were reported unharmed.

"What about the missing men?" Gene asked.

"Three dead," Maher replied, "two badly hurt. We'll need somebody to
look after them."

"I'll go," volunteered Ann. The woman in fur stepped forward also, and
they left the room behind Maher and Schwenky.

Gene faced the rest. "We've got a real problem now. With a reduced crew,
we'll have to finish a trip that would have been tough with an uninjured
ship. But first, we