en jumped in. Before he had picked himself up, two or three of
the girls were at the hatch, dogging the cover down.

"All right, Glav, blast off!" Dard ordered. "We've got to be at least a
hundred miles from this ship when she blows, or we'll blow with her!"

"Don't I know!" Seldar Glav retorted over his shoulder, racing for the
controls. "Grab hold of something, everybody; I'm going to fire all jets
at once!"

An instant later, while Kalvar Dard and the girls clung to stanchions
and pieces of fixed furniture, the boat shot forward out of its housing.
When Dard's head had cleared, it was in free flight.

"How was that?" Glav yelled. "Everybody all right?" He hesitated for a
moment. "I think I blacked out for about ten seconds."

Kalvar Dard looked the girls over. Eldra was using a corner of her smock
to stanch a nosebleed, and Olva had a bruise over one eye. Otherwise,
everybody was in good shape.

"Wonder we didn't all black out, permanently," he said. "Well, put on
the visiscreens, and let's see what's going on outside. Olva, get on the
radio and try to see if anybody else got away."

"Set course for Tareesh?" Glav asked. "We haven't fuel enough to make it
back to Doorsha."

"I was afraid of that," Dard nodded. "Tareesh it is; northern
hemisphere, daylight side. Try to get about the edge of the temperate
zone, as near water as you can...."

2

They were flung off their feet again, this time backward along the boat.
As they picked themselves up, Seldar Glav was shaking his head, sadly.
"That was the ship going up," he said; "the blast must have caught us
dead astern."

"All right." Kalvar Dard rubbed a bruised forehead. "Set course for
Tareesh, then cut out the jets till we're ready to land. And get the
screens on, somebody; I want to see what's happened."

The screens glowed; then full vision came on. The planet on which they
would land loomed huge before them, its north pole toward them, and its
single satellite on the port side. There was no sign of any rocket-boat
in either side screen, and the rear-view screen was a blur of yellow
flame from the jets.

"Cut the jets, Glav," Dard repeated. "Didn't you hear me?"

"But I did, sir!" Seldar Glav indicated the firing-panel. Then he
glanced at the rear-view screen. "The gods help us! It's yellow flame;
the jets are burning out!"

Kalvar Dard had not boasted idly when he had said that his people would
not panic. All the girls went white, and one