n-hard forearm rose and fell, and the
edge of his hand came down on the back of the pirate's thick neck.
There was a muffled crack and he slumped to the platform grating.

Quickly the officer stripped off the man's harness and buckled it
around his own naked chest. The electrogun had been uninjured, and
hooked to the belt was also the riot club, a truly appalling thing at
close quarters. Quirl carried the body down, laid it prone in the
corner he had occupied, snapped on the waistlock, and threw a ragged
old blanket over the hairy legs. In the forthcoming disturbance, if
anyone looked in, he would think the inert form a sleeping prisoner,
and that the guard had deserted post.

Quirl had feared an outbreak among the prisoners, but they were so
apathetic that they paid little attention. Perhaps they thought it was
Quirl who had been killed, and he did not dare even a whispered
farewell to the girl he knew was watching somewhere in the darkness.

Much to Quirl's delight, the long, tubular passage was deserted. Here
the centrifugal gravity was less than it had been in the hold. A weird
place, this central tube, where every direction was down, and a man
could walk on his ceiling, his floor, his walls with equal facility.
No top nor bottom--just a long, smooth tube with numerous enigmatic
doors leading to--where?

At least it was easy to tell where the bow of the ship was. A light
shone through a transom over the door to the navigating room. Should
he try to hold up the navigating officer? He decided against that.
There would be at least three men in there, and it was the custom to
keep those quarters locked.

"If only I knew where they generate the invisibility field!" he
muttered, as he stood irresolute.

* * * * *

Opportunity came at that moment. A crack of light appeared along the
passage. A door was opening there. A moment later a head and
shoulders showed. Someone was climbing up. Swiftly the officer ran to
the place. The pirate did not even suspect anything wrong until he
felt the spots of milky light on his face. He showed his terror
plainly.

"Get up!" Quirl hissed. The man obeyed with alacrity. Quirl glanced
down. He saw tiers of bunks, evidently one of the crew's dormitories.

He now turned to the cowering pirate.

"I'd as soon kill you as not!" Quirl snarled.

"You got me wrong, brother!" the pirate whined. "I'm with Gore in this
deal. Lay off!"

"Where you bound for