didn't know everything about everything. You can depend on me,
sir. I won't steer you into any meteor swarms."

Koa had half turned to shake hands. Suddenly he spun on around, his head
banging against the deck. Rip felt a surge of loosened muscles that had
been braced against acceleration. At the same time, silence flooded in on
them with an almost physical shock. He murmured, "brennschluss," and the
murmur was like a trumpet blast.

The _Scorpius_ had reached velocity and the nuclear drive had cut out.
From terrific acceleration they had dropped to zero. The ship was making
high speed, but velocity cannot be felt. For the moment, the men were
weightless.

A near-by spaceman had heard Rip's comment. He spoke in an undertone to
the man nearest. His voice was pitched low enough so Rip couldn't object
officially, but loud enough to be heard.

"Get this, gang. The Planeteer officer knows what brennschluss is. He
doesn't look old enough to know which end his bubble goes on."

Rip started to his feet, but Koa's hand on his arm restrained him. With a
violent kick the big sergeant-major shot through the air. His line of
flight took him by the spaceman, and somehow their arms got linked. The
spaceman was jerked from his post and the two came to a stop against the
ceiling.

Koa's voice echoed through the ship. "Sorry. I'm not used to no-weight.
Didn't mean to grab you. Here, I'll help you back to your post."

He whirled the helpless spaceman like a bag of feathers and slung him
through the air. The force of the action only flattened Koa against the
ceiling, but the hapless spaceman shot forward head first and landed with
a clang against the bulkhead. He didn't hit hard enough to break any
bones, but he would carry a bump around on his head for a day or two.

Koa's voice floated after him. "Great Cosmos! I sure am sorry, spaceman. I
guess I don't know my own strength." He kicked away from the ceiling,
landing accurately at Rip's side. He added in a hard voice all could hear,
"They sure are a nice gang, these spacemen. They never say anything about
Planeteers."

No spaceman answered, but Koa's meaning was clear. No spaceman had better
say anything about the Planeteers! Rip saw that the deputy commander and
the safety officer had appeared not to notice the incident. Technically,
there was no reason for an officer to take action. It had all been an
"accident." He smiled. There was a lot he had to learn about dealing with
sp