Costigan, uttered one piercing shriek as she sank her fingers
into his shoulders. Bradley swore a mighty deep-space oath and braced
himself against certain annihilation. Costigan stared for an instant,
unable to believe his eyes; then, in spite of the warning, his hand
darted toward the studs which would cut the beam. Too late. Before his
flying fingers could reach the buttons the _Boise_ was upon them; had
struck the speedster in direct central impact. Moving at the full
measure of her unthinkable velocity though the super-ship was in the
instant of impact, yet the most delicate recording instruments of the
speedster could not detect the slightest shock as the enormous globe
struck the comparatively tiny torpedo and clung to it; accommodating
instantaneously and effortlessly her own terrific pace to that of the
smaller and infinitely slower craft. Clio sobbed in relief and Costigan,
one arm around her, sighed hugely.

"Hey, you spacelugs!" he cried. "Glad to see you, and all that, but you
might as well kill a man outright as scare him to death! So _that's_ the
super-ship, huh? _Some_ ship!"

"Hi-ya, Murf! Hi, Spud!" came from the speaker.

"Murf? Spud? How come?" Clio, practically recovered now, glanced upward
questioningly. It was plain that she did not quite know whether or not
to like the nicknames which the rescuers were calling her Conway.

"My middle name is Murphy, so they've called me things like that ever
since I was so high." Costigan indicated a length of approximately
twelve inches. "And now you'll probably live long enough--I hope--to
hear me called a lot worse stuff than that."

"Don't _talk_ that way--we're safe now, Con ... Spud? It's nice that
they like you so much--but they would, of course." She snuggled even
closer, and both listened to what Rodebush was saying.

"... realize myself that it would look so bad; it scared me as much as
it did anybody. Yes, this is IT. She really works--thanks more than
somewhat to Conway Costigan, by the way. But you had better transfer.
If you'll get your things...."

"'Things' is good!" Costigan laughed, and Clio giggled sunnily.

"We've made so many transfers already that what you see is all we've
got," Bradley explained. "We'll bring ourselves, and we'll hurry. That
Nevian is coming up fast."

"Is there anything on this ship you fellows want?" Costigan asked.

"There may be, but we haven't any locks big enough to let her inside and
we haven't time to stu