Travis edged
back into a compartment. A flash of light momentarily lighted the
corridor; the approaching figure was using a torch. Travis drew his
knife with one hand, reversed it so he could use the heavy hilt as a
silencer. The other was hurrying now, on his way to investigate the
burned-out engine cabin. Travis could hear the rasp of his fast
breathing. Now!

The Apache had put down the gun, his left arm closed about a shoulder,
and the Red gasped as Travis struck with the knife hilt. Not clean--he
had to hit a second time before the struggles of the man were over.
Then, using his hands for eyes, he stripped the limp body on the floor
of automatic and torch.

With the Red's weapon in the front of his sash, the burner in one hand
and the torch in the other, Travis prowled on. There was a good chance
that those above might believe him to be their comrade returning. He
found the ladder leading to the next level, began to climb, pausing now
and then to listen.

Shock preceded sound. Under him the ladder swayed and the globe itself
rocked a little. A blast of some kind must have been set off at or under
the level of the ground. The bunker Buck had mentioned?

Travis clung to the ladder, waited for the vibrations to subside. There
was a shouting above, a questioning.... Hurriedly he ascended to the
next level, scrambled out and away from the ladder just in time to avoid
the light from another torch flashed down the well. Again that call of
inquiry, then a shot--the boom of the explosion loud in the confined
space.

To climb into the face of that light with a waiting marksman above was
sheer folly. Could there be another way up? Travis retreated down one of
the corridors raying out from the ladder well. A quick inspection of the
cabins along that route told him he had reached a section of living
quarters. The pattern was familiar; the control cabin would be on the
next level.

Suddenly the Apache remembered something: On each level there should be
an emergency opening giving access to the insulation space between the
inner and outer skins of the ship through which repairs could be made.
If he could find that and climb up to the next level....

The light shining down the well remained steady, and there was the
echoing crack of another shot. But Travis was far enough away from the
ladder now to dare use his own torch, seeking the door he needed on the
wall surface. With a leap of heart he sighted the outline--his lu