...

Somehow, he climbed to his feet again. The thing was back over Diane's
still form again, looking at her, its eyes staring and vacant. Spittle
drooled from the lips--

Then Ralph was wrestling with it again. The thing was almost protean. It
all but seemed to change its shape and writhe from Ralph's grasp as they
struggled across the cabin, but this time there was no weapon for it to
grab and use with stunning force.

Half-crazed himself now, Ralph got his fingers gauntleted in rubberized
metal, about the sinewy throat under the tattered beard. His fingers
closed there and the wild eyes went big and he held it that way a long
time, then finally thrust it away from him.

The thing fell but sprang to its feet. It looked at Ralph and the mouth
opened and closed, but he heard no sound. The teeth were yellow and
black, broken, like fangs.

Then the thing turned and ran.

Ralph followed it as far as the airlock. The inner door was slammed
between them. A light blinked over the door.

Ralph ran to a port hole and watched.

The thing which once had been a man floated out into space, turning,
spinning slowly. The gnarled twisted body expanded outward, became fat
and swollen, balloon-like. It came quite close to the porthole, thudding
against the ship's hull, the face--dead now--like a melon.

Then, after he was sick for a moment there beside the airlock, he went
back for Diane.

* * * * *

They were back aboard the Gormann '87 now, their own ship. Ralph had
revived Diane and brought her back--along with the other Gormann's
radarscope--to their battered tub. The bruise on her temple was badly
discolored and she was still weak, but she would be all right.

"But what was it?" Diane asked. She had hardly seen her attacker.

"A man," Ralph said. "God knows how long that ship was in here. Years,
maybe. Years, alone in space, here in the sargasso, with dead men and
dead ships for company. He used up all the food. His shipmates died.
Maybe he killed them. He needed more food--"

"Oh, no. You don't mean--"

Ralph nodded. "He became a cannibal. Maybe he had a spacesuit and raided
some of the other ships too. It doesn't matter. He's dead now."

"He must have been insane like that for years, waiting here, never
seeing another living thing...."

"Don't talk about it," Ralph said, then smiled. "Ship's ready to go,
Diane."

"Yes," she said.

He looked at her. "Mars?"

She didn't say