e you ever heard of Fort Knox?" Redman asked.

Fort Knox--Fort Knox--_fourknocks_! the thought staggered me.

"The gold I had came from there," Redman said.

Fourknocks! Sure, I'd heard of it. What citizen hadn't? They still
tell stories of that fabulous hoard of gold. Tons of it buried on
Earth waiting for someone with guts enough to go in and find it.

"All your ship will hold," Redman said. "After we analyze its
principles."

Five tons of gold! Six million munits! So much money! It staggered me.
I'd never dreamed of that much money. Redman was right. I _would_ kick
my mother's teeth out if the price was right. And the price--I jumped
convulsively. My arm brushed the control board, kicking off the
negative inertia and slapping the axial correction jets.

The ship spun like a top! Centrifugal force crushed me against the
control room floor. Redman, an expression of pained surprise on his
face before it slammed against the floor, was jammed helplessly in the
corridor. I had time for one brief grin. The Patrol would zero in on
us, and I'd have a hundred thousand I could spend. What could I do
with six million I couldn't use?

Then hell broke out. A fire extinguisher came loose from its
fastenings and started flying around the room in complete defiance of
artificial gravity. Switches on the control board clicked on and off.
The ship bucked, shuddered and jumped. But the spin held. Redman,
crushed face down to the floor, couldn't see what he was doing.
Besides--he didn't know what he was doing--but he was trying. The fire
extinguisher came whizzing across the floor and cracked me on the
shin. A scream of pure agony left my lips as I felt the bone snap.

"Got you!" Redman grunted, as he lifted his head against the crushing
force and sighted at me like a gunner. The extinguisher reversed its
flight across the room and came hurtling at my head.

"Too late!" I gloated mentally. Then the world was filled with novae
and comets as the extinguisher struck. The cheerful thought that
Redman was trapped because he didn't--couldn't--know how to drive a
hypership was drowned in a rush of darkness.

* * * * *

When I came to, my leg was aching like a thousand devils and I was
lying on a rocky surface. Near--terribly near--was a jagged rock
horizon cutting the black of space dotted with the blazing lights of
stars. I groaned and rolled over, wincing at the double pain in leg
and head. Redman wa