ic wires groping toward the hull of the
_Space Queen_. If they made contact--

Contact was made while he ran up the companionway. The
electroparalysis bolt hit him while he was still twenty feet from the
control cabin. It caught him on his right toe with his left foot
extended. It froze him in that position, held him in the grotesque
running pose while fire poured through his veins. It held not only
Mike and every other living thing aboard, but froze the ship itself
into immobility; everything stopped except the raging movement of
flaming gases in the jet tubes and these too died out as their source
of supply was speedily choked.

Mike blacked out.

When his consciousness returned, Mike figured he had been out for
about an hour. He based this on past experience with electroparalysis
rays.

Using every ounce of will-power, he forced his elevated foot toward
the companionway floor. The magnetic field permeating the dead ship
was still potent, forming, in a sense, a maze of invisible wires,
holding him in his frozen position.

He knew that in the companionway he had taken the full brunt of the
charge. Possibly the others were again able to move about. But no one
came to his aid.

His foot touched the floor. He pulled at his back foot like a man
striving to loose himself from thick mud. He got it forward. A step,
then another. From the control cabin came the sound of dolorous curses
emitted in many languages. Nicko was again functioning.

Mike got his hands on the safety bars of the ladder leading down to
the lounge. He pulled himself toward it and as he was descending, the
magnetism of the electroparalytic bolt loosed its hold and he fell
headlong. Picking himself up, he hurried into the lounge.

Doree was alone. She was still frozen to the chair in which she sat.
Her legs were drawn up gracefully under her slim body. Only her eyes
were alive--questioning, beseeching.

Mike picked her up and laid her on the floor. He knelt and began
massaging the rigid muscles, drawing her legs out slowly, watching her
eyes for indications of pain.

"You'll be all right in a few minutes," he said. "We have to take it
slow and easy or you'll get the bends."

While he worked he was asking himself questions. Who? In God's
name--why? What reason had anyone for attacking the ship? There was
nothing of value aboard. He had no enemies--to his knowledge--in this
part of the universe.

* * * * *

Do