ied to make them into spacemen and they've
resented me for it. I've tried to protect them and they've hated me--"

"They won't now--" I interrupted.

"I've tried to make them a unit." He went on as though I hadn't said a
thing. "Maybe I've tried too hard, but I'm responsible for every life
aboard this ship." He picked up his helmet. "Take command of the ship,
Mr. Marsden," he said, and strode out of the room. The "Lachesis"
shuddered to the recoil from the port turrets. Eighteen torpedoes left,
I thought.

We lowered Chase a full hundred feet on the thin strand of duralloy. He
dangled under the ship, using his converter to keep the line taut.

"You hear me, skipper?" I asked.

"Clearly--and you?"

"Four-four. Hang on now--we're going up." I eased the "Lachesis" into
Cth and hung like glue to the border. "How's it going, skipper?"

"A bit rough but otherwise all right. Now steer right--easy now--aagh!"

"Skipper!"

"Okay, Marsden. You nearly pulled me in half--that's all. You did fine.
We're in good position in relation to 'Amphitrite.' Now let's get our
signals straight. Front is the way we're going now--base all my
directions on that--got it?"

"Aye, sir."

"Good, Marsden, throttle back and hang on your converters."

I did as I was told.

"Ah--there she is--bear left a little. Hmm--she's looking for us--looks
suspicious. Now she's turning toward 'Amphitrite.' Guess she figures we
are gone. She's in position preparing to fire. _Now!_ Drop out and
fire--elevation zero, azimuth three sixty--_Move!_"

I moved. The "Lachesis" dropped like a stone. Chase was dead now.
Nothing made of flesh could survive that punishment but we--we came out
right on top of them, just like Chase had done to the other--except that
we fired before we collided. And as with the other Rebel we gained
complete surprise. Our eighteen torpedoes crashed home, her magazines
exploded, and into that hell of molten and vaporized metal that had once
been a Rebel scout we crashed a split second later. Two thousand miles
per second relative is too fast for even an explosion to hurt much if
there isn't any solid material in the way, and we passed through only
the outer edges of the blast, but even so, the vaporized metal scoured
our starboard plating down to the insulation. It was like a giant emery
wheel had passed across our flank. The shock slammed us out of control
and we went tumbling in crazy gyrations across space for several minutes
be