y're taking off."

Through the leaded glass of the window-ports, the colonists watched
the craft vanish into the steam-filled wind.

A minute later disaster struck the colonists.

The explosion was not heavy against the roar of the storm, but a
jagged hole, a yard across, was ripped in the ship's hull. Into the
hole rushed the hot, radioactive wind. Automatic safety doors failed
to close properly. Maybe they had been sabotaged, too, by Lauren.

Many of the colonists were wearing spacesuits. They were the lucky
ones, only having to slam their face-windows shut to be protected
sufficiently from radiation. The others had to scramble to armor
themselves. Bert and Alice Kraskow, and Lawler, had been outside. The
outer surfaces of their suits had been contaminated, so they had had
to remove them inside the ship to avoid tainting their surroundings.
And in the press of events they hadn't thought to put on other
spacesuits.

In the lounge and elsewhere, fastened against the walls, were such
armor for emergency use. Bert tried to help his wife get into one. But
she ordered sharply: "I can do this! Take care of yourself, Bert."

He didn't do that. Nor did Lawler. They ran down a passage toward the
rent in the ship, intent on stopping the gases that were flooding the
craft's interior. Seconds were important. The radioactive wind, much
cooled during the long journey from its point of origin, but poisoned
by invisible emanations, struck their unprotected bodies. Yet they
kept on. They dared not breathe or speak; still they worked together
with an efficiency of terrible need, stepping over the forms of men
who had already fallen.

Bert found a flat sheet of metal to use as a patch. He fitted it over
the rent, and, while Lawler piled boxes of supplies against it to hold
it in place, sealed the edges with a thick, tarry substance.

When the job was done they staggered back to the lounge. Blotches of
color danced before their vision. Many corpuscles in their blood had
already been destroyed by radiation. They sank to the deck.

* * * * *

Bert had a jangled impression of Alice, now in a spacesuit, holding
his head. He saw her lips mouthing endearments.... Game little
Allie.... His mind wandered off. He was going to die. Maybe everyone
on the ship was going to die. Lauren's last move had been meant to
provide a real disaster, with many deaths! Prove the Big Pill a
failure. Make sure that it woul