n it and tried to break it. The wire held.

He fumbled in his belt kit and found a pair of side-cutting pliers. They
would do. He reached in and snipped the circuit wire, then he slumped
down on the deck and mopped rivulets of water from his face.

Close! He glanced at his watch.

Zero minus two.

He grinned foolishly. This would be something to tell his grandchildren.
Once, because of a silly mistake he came within two minutes of being the
first spaceman!

Prince Machiavelli was looking down at him, the furry little face
serious, like that of a very wise old owl. In the irregular light
through the ports the tufted ears made the spacemonk look even more
owl-like.

"At least I got you a little reprieve by saving my own skin," Rick said
aloud. "Poor little guy."

The marmoset chirruped happily, glad of the human companionship.

Zero minus one minute.

Rick wasn't worried about the passage of time. Not until the drone
circuit was thrown into operation in another thirty seconds would
Gee-Gee and Dick realize that it wasn't functioning. A yell would stop
Dr. Bernais, and the gantry would be wheeled back into place. Gee-Gee
and Dick would probably come personally to check the circuit and find
out why the board had shown red instead of switching to green.

Rick chuckled. What a surprise they'd get!

Fortunately, it would only take a few minutes to repair the signal wire
and clear out. Pegasus would be a little late--perhaps fifteen minutes.

Again his thoughts turned to the awful moment when the hatchway closed.
Now that he could think more calmly, he decided that whoever had closed
the hatch hadn't known he was inside. The interior was gloomy, and he
had switched his light off to keep it from shining in the marmoset's
eyes.

He still couldn't be sure why the hatchway had been open, but in all
probability Frank or Dr. Bond had simply gone down the gantry without
closing it, not realizing until they were down that the team responsible
for installing the spacemonk was also responsible for buttoning up.

There was no evidence of sabotage that he could see, so the open
hatchway was nothing but the kind of mistake people make when working
under extreme pressure.

Again he wondered about the identity of the Earthman. It was curious
that no evidence of sabotage had been found in Orion, even though the
theft of servomotors had taken place. Maybe, as Dr. Hiller had guessed,
the picture left by the Earthman had been b