I've ordered the
pilot to slow down, for I want you to pilot us through the swarm--"

The captain's voice trailed off. His eyes bulged as for the first time
he perceived that Murdock was covering the two men with a gun.

"We're not going in to Vesta, captain," rapped Murdock. "John Dark and
his pirates are on the asteroid--_alive_!"

Captain Walls' plump face went waxy as he heard the name of the most
dreaded corsair of the System.

"Dark--living?" he stuttered. "Good God, you must be joking!"

Mrs. Milsom, her dumpy figure shivering and her teeth chattering with
terror, pointed a finger at Kenniston and the Jovian.

"They're two of the pirates!" she shrilled. "They might have murdered
us all in our beds! I knew this would happen when we left Earth--"

Kenniston's mind was seething with despair as he stood there with
hands upraised. His whole desperate plan was ruined at this last
moment.

He wouldn't _let_ it be ruined! He would get this cargo of machines
and materials to John Dark if it meant his life!

"Turn back at once toward Mars, captain," Gloria was saying quietly to
the stunned officer. Her face was still very pale.

Kenniston, standing tense, had had an idea. A desperate chance to make
a break, in the face of Murdock's atom-gun.

The captain had said that he had just ordered the pilot to slow down
the _Sunsprite_. In a moment would come the shock of the braking
rocket-tubes firing from the bows--

That shock came an instant after the wild expedient flashed across
Kenniston's mind. It was only a jarring vibration through the fabric
of the ship, for the pilot knew his business.

It staggered them all on their feet, for just a moment. But Kenniston
had been waiting for that moment. As Hugh Murdock moved his gun-arm
involuntarily to balance himself, Kenniston lunged forward.

"The bridge, Holk!" he yelled as he hurled himself.

Kenniston's shoulder hit the captain and sent him caroming into
Murdock. The two men sprawled on the floor.

Holk Or, with instant understanding, already had the door of the cabin
open. They plunged out into the corridor together.

"Our only chance is to make the bridge and grab the controls!"
Kenniston cried as they raced down the corridor. "We can keep them
long enough to land on Vesta--"

Hiss--_flash!_ The crackling blast of the atom-gun tore into the lower
steps of the ladder up which he and the Jovian frantically climbed.
Murdock was running after them as he fir