. Around the room hobby
horses sat quietly, alphabet blocks lay scattered, and picture books and
sprawling dolls littered the floor.

"So," she said. "Your nurses ran out on you, did they? Left you to shift
for yourselves? Never mind, youngsters, Aunt Tanya will look after you.
Take hands, now, and come with me."

* * * * *

When the alarm rang in the Bar, a glass crashed to the floor as the only
son of the deutonium millionaire jumped to his feet and ran.

[Illustration]

Professor Larrabee deliberately finished his drink, gently put down the
glass, and stood up.

"Our final spacecap," he said. "Well, Alan, it's been a good trip, but I
can't say I'm surprised at its ending. The ship had the wrong name, from
the beginning."

"We'd better hurry, Professor. We must find Tanya and the Halls."

"You're walking too fast for me, my boy. Don't worry. They're in Boat F,
with us, and we're sure to find them there."

In the corridor leading to F station their way was blocked by the crowd,
many of them still wearing the grotesque costumes of the masquerade
dance, now pale and tawdry in the bright lights. Stunned with horror,
they stared through the transparent wall at the gaping socket where the
lifeboat had been. Crewmen formed a tight circle around the truck and
the man who lay moaning on the floor. Pistols ready, they held back the
crowd while Dr. Willoughby administered an intravenous shot of panedol,
and Captain Evans, kneeling beside the dying man, tried to catch his
whispers.

"It was Mr. Jasperson, sir. He got me before I could do a thing. I tried
to stop him."

"You say you warned him?"

"I called to him, sir, and said the boat wasn't ready. But he didn't
give me a chance. He shot me."

The boy closed his eyes, and Evans stood up.

"Through an error, ladies and gentlemen, Boat F has already gone. You
will please go to the other stations and wait for assignment to the
other boats."

The crowd whispered, staring uncomprehendingly at the Captain's stony
face.

"Did you ever teach mathematics, Professor?" Alan murmured. "How do you
divide fifteen hundred people among four boats?"

Larrabee only smiled, a faraway look in his eyes.

A frightened voice cried, high and loud, "But there won't be enough
room!"

Someone screamed. Someone else started to run. In a few seconds a mob of
running, panic-stricken people jammed the corridor, fighting their way
out. Alan and the prof