ities since you
came back from beyond the door. You'll find that's only the beginning.
The radiation, the exposure--something. The simple act of pseudo-death,
perhaps. Anyway, the brain is altered, stepped up, a great deal of its
normally unused potential released. You've always been a
fair-to-middling technician. You'll find your rating boosted,
eventually, to the genius level."

The skiff veered wildly as Shearing dodged a whizzing chunk of rock the
size of a skyscraper.

"That's one reason," he said, "why we wanted to get you before Bellaver
did. The number of technicians undergoing the Humane Penalty is quite
small. We--the brotherhood--need all of them we can get."

"But that wasn't the main reason you wanted me?" pressed Hyrst.

Shearing looked at him. "No. We wanted you mainly because you were
present when MacDonald died. Handled right--"

He paused. The asteroid was rushing at them, and Bellaver's ships were
close behind. Hyrst was already in a vac-suit, all but the helmet.

"Take the controls," said Shearing. "As she goes. Don't worry, I'll make
the landing." He pulled the vac-suit on. "Handled right," he said, "you
might be the key to that murder, and to the mystery behind it that the
brotherhood _must_ solve."

He took the controls again. They helped each other on with their
helmets. The asteroid filled the port, a wild, weird jumble of
vari-colored rock.

"I don't see how," said Hyrst, into his helmet mike.

"Latent impressions," answered Shearing briefly, and sent the skiff
skittering in between two great black monoliths, to settle with a jar on
a pan of rock as smooth and naked as a ballroom floor.

"Make it fast," said Shearing. "They're right on top of us."

* * * * *

The skiff, designed as Sheering had said for short hops, could not
accommodate the extra weight and bulk of an airlock. You were supposed
to land in atmosphere. If you didn't, you just pushed a release-button
and hung on. The air was exhausted in one whistling swoosh that took
with it everything loose. The moisture in it crystallized instantly, and
before this frozen drift had even begun to settle, Hyrst and Shearing
were on their way.

They crossed the rock pan in great swaggering bounds. The gravity was
light, the horizon only twenty or so miles away. Literally in his mind's
eye Hyrst could see the three ships arrowing at them. He opened contact
with Vernon, knowing Shearing had done so too.