is like now--and I never will. But at least I know
that men are allowed to think again. And I know they'll survive."

He suddenly realized how much time had passed. Had it been too long?
No. There would still be Earth ships prowling the vicinity, waiting for
any sign of a Kerothi ship that had hidden in the vastness of space by
not using its engines.

"I have some things I must do, Tallis," he said, standing up slowly.
"Is there anything else you want to know?"

Tallis frowned a little, as though he were trying to think of
something, but then he closed his eyes and relaxed. "No, Sepastian.
Nothing. Do whatever it is you have to do."

"Tallis," MacMaine said. Tallis didn't open his eyes, and MacMaine was
very glad of that. "Tallis, I want you to know that, in all my life,
you were the only friend I ever had."

The bright green eyes remained closed. "That may be so. Yes, Sepastian,
I honestly think you believe that."

"I do," said MacMaine, and shot him carefully through the head.

_The End_

--_and Epilogue._

"Hold it!" The voice bellowed thunderingly from the loud-speakers of
the six Earth ships that had boxed in the derelict. "Hold it! _Don't
bomb that ship!_ I'll personally have the head of any man who damages
that ship!"

In five of the ships, the commanders simply held off the bombardment
that would have vaporized the derelict. In the sixth, Major Thornton,
the Group Commander, snapped off the microphone. His voice was shaky as
he said: "That was close! Another second, and we'd have lost that ship
forever."

Captain Verenski's Oriental features had a half-startled, half-puzzled
look. "I don't get it. You grabbed that mike control as if you'd been
bitten. I know that she's only a derelict. After that burst of
fifty-gee acceleration for fifteen minutes, there couldn't be anyone
left alive on her. But there must have been a reason for using atomic
rockets instead of their antiacceleration fields. What makes you think
she's not dangerous?"

"I didn't say she wasn't dangerous," the major snapped. "She may be.
Probably is. But we're going to capture her if we can. Look!" He
pointed at the image of the ship in the screen.

She wasn't spinning now, or looping end-over-end. After fifteen minutes
of high acceleration, her atomic rockets had cut out, and now she moved
serenely at constant velocity, looking as dead as a battered tin can.

"I don't see anything," Captain Verenski said.

"The Kerothic symb