time he timed the
blast, aiming the nozzle carefully, and the spinning almost stopped.

He fought down nausea, trying to get his bearings. He was three hundred
yards out from the asteroid, almost twice as far from the orbit-ship. He
stared down at the rock as he moved slowly away from it. Before, from
the orbit-ship, he had been able to see only the bright side of the huge
rock; now he could see the sharp line of darkness across one side.

But there was something else....

He fired the bumper again to steady himself, peering into the blackness
beyond the light-line on the rock. He snapped on his helmet lamp, aimed
the spotlight beam down to the dark rock surface. Greg and Johnny were
landing now on the bright side, with Greg almost out of sight over the
"horizon" ... but Tom's attention was focussed on something he could see
only now as he moved away from the asteroid surface.

His spotlight caught it ... something bright and metallic, completely
hidden on the dark side, lying in close to the surface but not quite on
the surface. Then suddenly Tom knew what it was ... the braking jets of
a Class I Ranger, crouching beyond the reach of sunlight in the shadow
of the asteroid....

Swiftly he fired the bumper again, turning back toward the orbit-ship.
His hand went to the speaker-switch, but he caught himself in time. Any
warning shouted to Greg and Johnny would certainly be picked up by the
ship. But he had to give warning somehow.

He tumbled into the airlock, searching for a flare in his web belt. It
was a risk ... the Ranger ship might pick up the flash ... but he had to
take it. He was unscrewing the fuse cap from the flare when he saw Greg
and Johnny leap up from the asteroid surface.

Then he saw what had alarmed them. Slowly, the Ranger was moving out
from its hiding place behind the rock. Tom reached out to catch Greg as
he came plummeting into the lock. There was a flash from the Ranger's
side, and Johnny Coombs' voice boomed in his earphones: "Get inside! Get
the lock closed, fast ... hurry up, can't waste a second."

Johnny caught the lip of the lock, dragged himself inside frantically.
They were spinning the airlock door closed when they heard the
thundering explosion, felt the ship lurch under their feet, and all
three of them went crashing to the deck.

5. The Black Raider

For a stunned moment they were helpless as they struggled to pick
themselves up. The stable airlock deck was suddenly