, and the head itself
still hung where it had lodged. The mouth gaped flabbily open; above
it was the suction cup that formed a snout; and above that, a row of
staring, sightless eyes. Chet had slammed into the mass of serpents
just in time, Harkness realized. Just in time, or just too late....

The door to the control room was sprung and jammed. He pried it open
to see the unconscious body that lay huddled upon the floor. But he
knew, with a wave of thankfulness that was suffocating, that the brute
had not reached her; only the slow release of the air-pressure had
rendered her unconscious. He was beside her in an instant.

* * * * *

He was dimly aware of the thunder of exhausts and the shrill scream of
helicopters as he reached the upper surface of the red ship and forced
his unconscious burden into the emergency slot above his head.

"They're here!" Chet was shouting excitedly. "We're ordered to halt.
Looks as if our flight was postponed." He tried to smile, but the
experiment was a failure.

"I am dodging around to keep that big one from grabbing us with its
magnet. Schwartzmann is aboard one of the patrols; they think the girl
is in her ship. They won't fire on us as long as we hang on. But we'll
crash if we do that, and they'll nail us if we let go."

Harkness had placed the girl's body upon the floor. His answer was a
quick leap to the pilot's side. "See to her," he ordered; "I'll take
the ship. Stop us now? Like hell they will! What's all our power
for?"

One glance gave him the situation: the big gray fighter above,
slipping down to seize them with her powerful magnets; four other
patrol cruisers that slowly circled, their helicopters holding them
even with the two ships that clung together in swift descent.

Chet was right; no burst of speed could save them from the guns of the
patrols if they dropped the red speedster and made a break for it.
They thought Diane was still in her ship, and a patrol would have the
little craft safe before she had dropped a thousand feet. Their own
stern exhaust would be torn by a detonite shell, and the big cruiser
would seize them in the same way. No--they must hang onto the girl's
ship and outmaneuver the others. He pressed the metal ball forward to
the limit of its space, and the stern exhaust crashed into action with
all the suddenness of his own resolve.

The ship beneath him threw itself straight ahead, flashed under the
patrol-shi