ou have to do what you can ... you must
do what you can. But I can't be with you."

Manning strode forward. "You don't get the idea at all. I said I'd get
you out of here and I'm going to. I could pick up this ship and put it
wherever I wanted. But I don't want to. I just want you."

Mallory stared at him.

"Just don't be startled," said Greg. "Something will happen soon. Get
ready for it."

Feet drummed on the metal corridor outside.

"Hey, you, pipe down!" yelled the voice of the guard. "You know there's
no talking allowed now. Go to sleep."

"That's the guard," Mallory whispered fiercely. "They'll stop us."

Greg grinned viciously. "No, they won't."

* * * * *

The guard came into view through the grilled door.

"So it's you, Mallory ..." he began, stopping in amazement. "Hey, you!"
he shouted at Greg. "Who are you? How did you get in that cell?"

Greg flipped a hand in greeting. "Pleasant evening, isn't it?"

The guard grabbed for the door, but he did not reach the bars. Some
force stopped him six inches away. It could not be seen, could not be
felt, but his straining against it accomplished nothing.

"Mallory and I are leaving," Greg told the guard. "We don't like it
here. Too stuffy."

The guard lifted a whistle and blew a blast. Feet pounded outside. A
prisoner yelled from one of the cells. Another catcalled. Instantly the
ship was in an uproar. The convicts took up the yammering, shaking the
bars on their doors.

"Let's get started," Greg said to Mallory. "Hold tight."

Blackness engulfed Mallory. He felt a peculiar twisting wrench. And then
he was standing in the control room of a ship and Gregory Manning and
another man were smiling at him. White light poured down from a cluster
of globes. Somewhere in the ship engines purred with the hum of power.
The air was fresh and pure, making him realize how foul and stale the
air of the prison ship had been.

Greg held out his hand. "Welcome to our ship."

Mallory gripped his hand, blinking in the light. "Where am I?"

"You are on the _Invincible_, five million miles off Callisto."

"But were you here all the time?" asked Mallory. "Were you in my cell
back there or weren't you?"

"I was really in your cell," Greg assured him. "I could have just thrown
my image there, but I went there personally to get you. Russ Page, here,
sent me out. When I gave him the signal, he brought both of us back."

"I'm glad you're wi