by for
further instructions."

Hastily, then, Correy and I followed the orders we had given the men.
Briefly we stood on our heads against the wall, feeling very foolish,
and dreading the fall we knew was coming.

It came. We slid down the wall and lit heavily on our feet, while the
litter that had been on the ceiling with us fell all around us.
Miraculously, the ship seemed to have righted herself. Correy and I
picked ourselves up and looked around.

"We're still operating smoothly," I commented with a sweeping glance
at the instruments over the operating table. "Everything seems in
order."

"Did you notice the speed indicator, sir?" asked Correy grimly. "When
he fell, one of the men in the operating room must have pulled the
speed lever all the way over. We're at maximum space speed, sir, and
have been for nearly an hour, with no one at the controls."

* * * * *

We stared at each other dully. Nearly an hour, at maximum space
speed--a speed seldom used except in case of great emergency. With no
one at the controls, and the ship set at maximum deflection from her
course.

That meant that for nearly an hour we had been sweeping into infinite
space in a great arc, at a speed I disliked to think about.

"I'll work out our position at once," I said, "and in the meantime,
reduce speed to normal as quickly as possible. We must get back on our
course at the earliest possible moment."

We hurried across to the charts that were our most important aides in
proper navigation. By comparing the groups of stars there with our
space charts of the universe, the working out of our position was
ordinarily, a simple matter.

But now, instead of milky rectangles, ruled with fine black lines,
with a fiery red speck in the center and the bodies of the universe
grouped around in green points of light, there were only nearly blank
rectangles, shot through with vague, flickering lights that revealed
nothing except the presence of disaster.

"The meteoric fragment wiped out some of our plates, I imagine," said
Correy slowly. "The thing's useless."

I nodded, staring down at the crawling lights on the charts.

"We'll have to set down for repairs, Mr. Correy. If," I added, "we can
find a place."

Correy glanced up at the attraction meter.

"I'll take a look in the big disc," he suggested. "There's a sizeable
body off to port. Perhaps our luck's changed."

He bent his head under the big hood, a