work. Several times during the cleaning the men would leave
the tube and go into the main mixing chamber while the tube was blasted
with live steam to throw the stuff they had scraped off out into space.

Each squad was on its last tube when a spaceman arrived. He saluted Rip.
"Sir, the safety officer says to secure the tubes."

That could mean only one thing: deceleration. Rip rounded up his men.
"We're finished. The safety officer passed the word to secure the tubes,
which means we're going to decelerate." He smiled grimly. "You all know
they gave us this job just out of pure love for the Planeteers. So
remember it when you go through the control room to the decontamination
chamber."

The Planeteers nodded enthusiastically.

Rip led the way from the mixing chamber through the heavy safety door into
the engine control room. His entrance was met with poorly concealed grins
by the spacemen.

Halfway across the room Rip turned suddenly and bumped into Sergeant-major
Koa. Koa fell to the deck, arms flailing for balance--but flailing against
his protective clothing. The other Planeteers rushed to pick him up, and
somehow all their arms and hands beat against each other.

The protective clothing was saturated with fine dust. It rose from them in
a choking cloud, was picked up, and dispersed by the ventilating system.
It was contaminated dust. The automatic radiation safety equipment filled
the ship with an ear-splitting buzz of warning. Spacemen clapped emergency
respirators to their faces and spoke unkindly of Rip's Planeteers in the
saltiest space language they could think of.

Rip and his men picked up Koa and continued their march to the
decontamination room, grinning under their respirators at the
consternation around them. There was no danger to the spacemen since they
had clapped on respirators the moment the warning sounded. But even a
little contamination meant the whole ship had to be gone over with
instruments, and the ventilating system would have to be cleaned.

The deputy commander met Rip at the door of the radiation room. Above the
respirator, his face looked furious.

"Lieutenant," he bellowed. "Haven't you any more sense than to bring
contaminated clothing into the engine control room?"

Rip was sorry the deputy commander couldn't see him grinning under his
respirator. He said innocently, "No, sir. I haven't any more sense than
that."

The deputy grated, "I'll have you up before the Discipline B