ge. Loring's just talked to
Connel. He's trying to make him blast outta here. If Connel doesn't,
Loring's going to dump you in space!"

"Yeah, I know. That murdering space crawler!" snarled Roger. He gripped
the rifle tightly. "I'll blast him--"

"Now wait a minute," hissed Shinny. "You go up and get Loring, see? Make
it look like you got out by yourself. If you can handle him, O.K. I'll
stay in back, and if anything goes wrong, I'll back you up!"

"Fine," said Roger. He patted the spaceman on the back and smiled.
"Don't worry, Mr. Shinny, nothing will go wrong!"

"Watch your step. That Loring is a smart cookie!"

Roger turned into the passageway and made his way silently to the
control-deck hatch. He peered around the edge of the hatch and saw
Loring sitting in front of the teleceiver screen, his back toward Roger.
The cadet quickly stepped into the control room, leveled the rifle, and
said quietly, "All right, Loring, keep your hands in view!"

Loring spun around and stared openmouthed at Roger. "Mann--" he gasped.

"Yeah, me!" said Roger. "Call Mason and tell him to come down here on
the double. But one wrong move, Loring, and I'll give you a quick freeze
with this ray gun!"

Moving slowly, Loring turned to the intercom and flipped the switch.
"Hey, Mason," he yelled. "Come down here a minute, will ya?"

"What do you want?" growled Mason. "I've got to figure out this course."

Roger stepped close to Loring, raising the gun.

Loring licked his lips and turned back to the intercom. "Don't gimme any
back talk! I said get down here!"

Suddenly the teleceiver came to life. "_Polaris_ to _Space Devil_! Come
in, Loring! This is Major Connel on the _Polaris_ calling Loring on the
_Space Devil_!"

The suddenness of the voice startled Roger, and for a split second he
took his eyes off Loring. In that instant Loring leaped for the boy,
grabbing at the rifle. The quickness of his lunge caught Roger off guard
and he was thrown back against the bulkhead, but he held onto the rifle
as Loring tried to twist it out of his grasp.

"What th--" cried Mason from the ladder leading to the radar bridge.
When he saw Roger and Loring struggling, he grabbed for the paralo-ray
gun at his side. Just at that moment Shinny stepped through the hatch
and fired his rifle. Mason was frozen into a rigid statue, unable to
move.

"All right, Loring," yelled Shinny, "step back or I'll blast you like I
did Mason!"

Roger wrenched the r