e Cat immediately for the Hub and get the word to the agency. Right?"

Duomart nodded.

He brought a flat case of medical hypodermics out of his pocket, and
opened it.

"Going to take your shot of kwil before we land?" Miss Mines asked.

"No. I want you to keep one of these needles on hand, at least until we
find out what the problem is. It'll knock you out if you have to take
it, but it might also keep you alive. I'm waiting myself to see if it's
necessary to go on kwil. The hallucinations I get from the stuff
afterwards could hit me while we're in the middle of some critical
activity or other, and that mightn't be so good." He closed the case
again, put it away. "I think we've covered everything. If you'll check
the view plate, something--or somebody--has come out from under the
trees near the column of smoke. And unless I'm mistaken it's a human
being."

Duomart slipped the kwil needle he'd given her into a drawer of the
instrument console. "I don't think you're mistaken," she said. "I've
been watching him for the last thirty seconds."

"It is a man?"

"Pretty sure of it. He moves like one."

Dasinger stood up. "I'll go talk with Egavine then. I had a job in mind
for him and his hypno sprays if we happened to run into human
survivors."

"Shall I put the ship down next to this one?"

"No. Land around five hundred yards to the north, in the middle of that
big stretch of open ground. That should keep us out of ambushes. Better
keep clear of the airspace immediately around the wrecks as you go
down."

Duomart looked at him. "Darn right I'll keep clear of that area!"

Dasinger grinned. "Something about the scout?"

"Sure. No visible reason at all why the scout should have settled hard
enough to buckle a drive. Handing was a good pilot."

"Hm-m-m." Dasinger rubbed his chin. "Well, I've been wondering. The
Dosey Asteroids raiders are supposed to have used an unknown type of
antipersonnel weapon in their attack on the station, you know. Nothing
in sight on their wreck that might be, say, an automatic gun but ...
well, just move in carefully and stay ready to haul away very fast at
the first hint of trouble!"

* * * * *

The Mooncat slid slowly down through the air near the point where the
man stood in open ground, a hundred yards from the clump of trees out of
which smoke still billowed thickly upwards. The man watched the
speedboat's descent quietly, making no further atte