her that sometime
when she's able to answer. But since I don't know, I'll have to use my
imagination. My guess is that, after she jammed the lights and
scanners in the rocket dome, she walked to the ship and tapped the
passenger lock three times in the right places, or something just as
improbable. The lock opened for her whether it was supposed to or
not."

"As good a guess as any," agreed Docchi.

"We may as well make our assumptions complete. Once inside, she felt
tired. She found a comfortable cabin and fell asleep in it. She
remained asleep throughout our skirmish with the geepees."

"She deserves a rest," said Docchi.

"She does. But if she had waited a few minutes to take it, she'd have
saved you the trouble of crawling through the tubes."

"She did her part and more," Docchi argued. "We depend too much on
her. Next we'll expect her to escort us personally to the stars." He
straightened up. "Let's go. Anti is waiting for us."

The cargo hold was sizable. It had to be to contain the tank, battered
and twisted though it was. Equipment had been jarred from storage
racks and lay in tangled heaps on the floor.

"Anti!" called Docchi.

"Here."

"Are you hurt?"

"Never felt a thing," came the cheerful reply.

* * * * *

Jordan scaled the side of the tank. He reached the top and peered
over. "She seems all right," he called down. "Part of the acid's gone.
Otherwise no damage."

Damage enough, however. Acid was a matter of life for Anti. It had
been splashed from the tank and, where it had spilled, metal was
corroding rapidly. The wall against which the tank had crashed was
bent and partly eaten through. That was no reason for alarm; the
scavenging system of the ship would handle acid. The real question was
what to do for Anti.

"I've stewed in this soup for years," said Anti. "Get me out of here."

"How?"

"If you weren't as stupid as doctors pretend to be, you'd know how. No
gravity, of course. I've got muscles, more than you think. I can walk
as long as my bones don't break from the weight."

No gravity would be rough on Docchi; having no arms, he would be
virtually helpless. The prospect of floating free without being able
to grasp something was terrifying.

"As soon as we can manage it," he said, forcing down his fear. "First
we've got to drain and store the acid."

Jordan had anticipated that. He'd swung off the tank and was busy
expelling the water from an