hed. "Eternal hope, and the rest of it." He
listened a moment and went on. "But old Nichols is a first-grade
engineer. He wouldn't be able to remake that bankroll every time if he
wasn't. You'll see his Dome out there on Pluto--it's always the best on
the planet. Tip-top shape. And he's a bit of an experimenter too.
Ah--he's with us."

Nichols' ragged signals were coming through--or pounding through. They
were worse than usual, and at first Kendall and Cole couldn't make them
out. Then finally they got them in bursts. The man was excited, and his
bad key-work made it worse. "--Randing stopped. They got him I think. He
said--th--ship as big--a--nsport. Said it wa--eaded my--ay. Neutrons--on
instruments--he's coming over the horizon--it's huge--war ship I
think--register--instru--neutrons--." Abruptly the signals were blanked
out completely.

* * * * *

Cole and Kendall sat frozen and stiff. Each looked at the other abruptly,
then Kendall moved. From the receiver, he ripped out the recording coil,
and instantly jammed it into the analyzer. He started it through once,
then again, then again, at different tone settings, till he found a very
shrill whine that seemed to clear up most of Nichols' bad key-work.
"T-247--T-247--Emergency. Emergency. Randing reports the--over his
horizon. Huge--ip--reign manufacture. Almost spherical. Randing's stopped.
They got him I think. He said the ship was as big as a transport. Said
it was headed my way. Neutrons--ont--gister--instruments. I think--is
h--he's coming over the horizon. It's huge, and a war ship I
think--register--instruments--neutrons."

Kendall's finger stabbed out at a button. Instantly the noise of the
other men, wakened abruptly by the mild shocks, came from behind.
Kendall swung to the controls, and Cole raced back to the engine room.
The hundred-foot ship shot suddenly forward under the thrust of her tail
ion-rockets. A blue-red cloud formed slowly behind her and expanded.
Talbot appeared, and silently took her over from Kendall. "Stations,
men," snapped Kendall. "Emergency call from a miner of Pluto reporting a
large armed vessel which attacked them." Kendall swung back, and eased
himself against the thrusting acceleration of the over-powered little
ship, toward the engine room. Cole was bending over his apparatus,
making careful check-ups, closing weapon-circuits. No window gave view
of space here; on the left was the tiny tender's p