nd the
_Scavenger_ burst apart in space. The second shell struck a fragment;
there was another flash. Then there was nothing but a nebulous powdering
of tiny metal fragments.

The last run of the _Scavenger_ had ended.

Dazed, Greg turned away from the screen, and somewhere, as if in a
dream, he heard Doc saying, "All right, boys, strap this pair down.
We've got a lot of work to do before we can get out of here."

7. Prisoners

Wherever they were planning to take them, the captors took great pains
to make sure that their two prisoners did not escape before they were
underway. Greg and Johnny were strapped down securely into accelleration
cots. Two burly guards were assigned to them, and the guards were taking
their job seriously. One of the two was watching them at all times, and
both men held their stunners on ready.

Meanwhile, under Doc's orders, the crew of the Jupiter Equilateral ship
began a systematic looting of the orbit-ship they had disabled. Earlier
they had merely searched the cabins and compartments. Now a steady
stream of pressure-suited men crossed through the airlocks into the
crippled vessel, marched back with packing cases full of tape records,
microfilm spools, stored computer data ... anything that might
conceivably contain information. The control cabin was literally torn
apart. Every storage hold was ransacked.

A team of six men was dispatched to the asteroid surface, searching for
any sign of mining or prospecting activity. They came back an hour
later, long-faced and empty handed. Doc took their reports, his scowl
growing deeper and deeper.

Finally the last of the searchers reported in. "Doc, we'd scraped it
clean, and there's nothing there. Not one thing that we didn't check
before."

"There's _got_ to be something there," Doc said.

"You tell me where else to look, and I'll do it."

Doc shook his head ominously. "Tawney's not going to like it," he said.
"There's no other place it could be...."

"Well, at least we have this pair," the other said, jerking a thumb at
Greg and Johnny. "They'll know."

Doc looked at them darkly. "Yes, and they'll tell, too, or I don't know
Tawney."

Greg watched it all happening, heard the noises, saw the packing-cases
come through the cabin, and still he could not quite believe it. He
caught Johnny's eye, then turned away, suddenly sick. Johnny shook his
head. "Take it easy, boy."

"He didn't even have a chance," Greg said.

"I know t