can."

"Good God, Kent!" cried Crain. "You're going to have her--?"

"Get out of there the only way she can!" Kent finished fiercely. "You
have the door open, Marta?"

"Yes; there are six or seven control-wheels inside."

"Those wheels control the _Pallas'_ exhaust-valves," Kent told her.
"Each wheel opens the valves of one of the ship's decks or compartments
and allows its air to escape into space. They're used for testing leaks
in the different deck and compartment divisions. Marta, you must turn
all those wheels as far as you can to the right."

"But all the ship's air will rush out; the guards below have no suits
on, and they'll be--" she was exclaiming. Kent interrupted.

"It's the only chance for you, for all of us. Turn them!"

There was a moment of silence, and Kent was going to repeat the order
when her voice came, lower in tone, a little strange:

"I understand, Rance. I'm going to turn them."

* * * * *

There was silence again, and Kent and the men grouped round him were
tense. All were envisioning the same thing--the air rushing out of the
_Pallas'_ valves, and the unsuspecting guards in its lower deck smitten
suddenly by an instantaneous death.

Then Marta's voice, almost a sob: "I turned them, Rance. The air puffed
out all around me."

"Your space-suit is working all right?"

"Perfectly," she said.

"Then go down and tie together as many space-helmets as you can manage,
get out of the airlock, and try to get over here to the _Martian Queen_
with them. Do you think you can do that, Marta?"

"I'm going to try," she said steadily. "But I'll have to pass those men
in the lower-deck I just--killed. Don't be anxious if I don't talk for a
little."

Yet her voice came again almost immediately. "Rance, the pumping has
stopped! They must have pumped all the fuel into the _Pallas_!"

"Then Jandron and the rest will be coming back to the _Pallas_ at once!"
Kent cried. "Hurry, Marta!"

The suit-phone was silent; and Kent and the rest, their faces closely
pressed against the deck-windows, peered intently along the wreck-pack's
edge. The _Pallas_ was hidden from their view by the wrecks between, and
there was no sign as yet of the girl.

Kent felt his heart beating rapidly. Crain and Liggett pressed beside
him, the men around them; Krell's face was a mask as he too gazed. Kent
was rapidly becoming convinced that some mischance had overtaken the
girl when an exclamation