walls of the passage sparked brilliantly, blinding
light filled the air, and Burl's body vibrated as it would to an
electric shock.

He reeled wildly, catching at the walls and almost falling. In a few
seconds his senses recovered, although his body was still humming from
the blow and his ears were ringing. The viewplate had gone black, the
lights in the air lock corridor were dark, and when he tried to gain his
feet he realized that the ship now had no gravity; it was falling free
without power.

Haines was slumped in the end of the corridor, with the port nearly
opened. Burl pushed his way over to him and helped the groggy explorer
to his feet. There was no sound, and Burl suddenly remembered that he
hadn't taken time to switch on his helmet phone. He did so and was
relieved to hear Harness voice asking if he was all right.

"I'm okay," Burl called. "Let's get this port open. Maybe we can hit
back at least once."

Together, they turned the bolts and pushed the thick outer shell door
open. Without the aid of telescopic sights they could see the shape of
the Sun-tapper vessel plainly, outlined against the curtain of distant
stars. Struggling not to think of what might be going on within the
_Magellan_--their earphones registered nothing except each other--they
unlimbered the long tube of the rocket launcher and aimed point-blank at
the foe. Haines reached into the ammunition locker vault alongside the
passageway and selected the biggest and wickedest of the available
shells. He twisted the dial in the warhead and, while Burl held the aim,
shoved in the rocket shell. With a press of the button, the missile
roared out of the tube, racing in an arc of fire directly toward the
faint vision of the other ship.

They watched with bated breath, counting the seconds, hoping not to see
another blast of electrical fire. But apparently the foe had exhausted
its limited resources, for the thin spidery line of rocket sparks
reached out, farther and farther, until it seemed to touch the surface
of the golden globe.

There was a great flare in the sky now, an outpouring of fire and hot
metal. When it cleared away, the sky was empty.

Haines wearily drew the outer port shut. "Now, let's see if we're
goners, too," he said quietly. They sealed the outer shell and made
their way along the dark passage.

Even as they were unlocking the toggles of the inner hatch, the corridor
lights started to flicker. They would light up dimly, a