your space lock."

"Very well," replied the spaceman on the _Space Knight_.

He cut the rockets and in a matter of minutes the ship was bumped
heavily as contact was made. The voice over the communicator announced
the two space vessels had been coupled. "Open your air lock and come
aboard."

"You come aboard my ship," said Miles. "We've got the stuff here."

"O.K. But I have to go below and wake up that jerk, Manning."

"Wake him up?"

"Yeah. I got him frozen."

"All right, make it snappy."

Miles turned to look at Tom, a sneer on his face. "I'm giving you a
break, Corbett," he said. "You're going to swim with your cadet buddy.
You'll have company!"

Gagged, Tom could only glare his hatred at the black-suited spaceman. In
a moment he heard the air lock open below and then footsteps clattered
up the ladder to the control deck.

The hatch opened and Roger stumbled inside. He saw Tom immediately and
yelled, "Tom! What are--" Suddenly he stopped. He looked at the man
standing beside Tom and gasped in astonishment.

Tom watched the hatch as Roger's captor stepped inside. What he saw made
him twist around in his chair and stare at the man beside him, utterly
bewildered.

"_Twins!_" cried Roger. "Identical twins."

The man stepped through the hatch and walked over to his brother. They
shook hands and slapped each other on the back.

"What happened to Charley, Ross?" asked Quent Miles.

"Just a minute, Quent," replied his brother. He turned and grinned at
Tom and Roger. "Surprised, huh? Don't let it bother you. We've been
driving people crazy ever since we were born. Does this tell you how we
won the race?"

"T-t-twin pilots," stuttered Tom in amazement. "And twin ships?"

"Exactly." Ross laughed. "Pretty smart, eh?"

"Never mind them now," snarled Quent. "I've been sitting up there on
that asteroid rock talking to myself. What happened to Charley?"

"Take it easy, will you, Quent?" said Ross. "I want to have some fun."
He turned to Manning. "Untie Corbett and get on the other side of the
deck. Have yourselves a nice long talk before you take your last walk."

Roger slowly bent over to untie Tom, muttering a space oath under his
breath. The two brothers retired to the opposite side of the control
deck and sat down. Ross kept his paralo-ray pistol in his hand and never
once took his eyes off the two cadets.

"Well, what happened?" demanded Quent. "What are you doing here with
Corbett and where in the