boat was all provisioned!"

"I thought it was, when I saw the tail-end of that truck! But you didn't
give me time to check. Why did you have to be in such a hurry?"

Groaning, Jasperson turned again to peer at the unfamiliar suns.

"How long will it take us to reach an inhabited planet, do you think?"

"I don't know, because I don't know just where we are. With luck, maybe
a week, maybe two."

"How long can we live without water?"

"Longer than you'd think. Twelve to fifteen days if we don't move
around. We may be able to land somewhere before then. If not--" His
voice rose to a sudden shriek. "_What good are those twenty-five
thousand credits going to do me now?_"

The secretary sat in numb collapse, but Jasperson prowled the room, up
and down, up and down, past the rows of empty seats, while Davis sat and
watched him with glittering eyes. Jasperson's head was aching, and he
was aware, all at once, that he was out of breath, as though he had been
climbing a steep hill under a broiling sun.

"Have to see to this," he muttered. "They can't treat me this way."
Stumbling, he lurched down the aisle towards Davis, staggering like a
drunken man.

"Got to have more air, Davis. This won't do."

Insolently, Davis got up and looked at the oxygen indicator set in the
wall.

"Needle's falling a bit. I'll turn on another tank." He touched the
switch, then sat down again.

Jasperson began to laugh.

"What's so funny?"

With shaking hand he pointed, laughing harder, his sagging cheeks
quivering as he roared.

"It's those chairs! Ever see such silly chairs? The way they sit there,
and look at you?"

"Hey, man, you're drunk! I wonder...."

He got up to look at the oxygen dial again. The needle had fallen still
further.

"Where's that oxygen?" he shouted. He rushed into the inner compartment
and was back immediately, his eyes black with terror.

"No air reserve either! Only that one tank! You great, blundering,
condemned fool! A man can live for fifteen days without water, but he
can't live ten minutes without air. We're done for!"

Jasperson giggled.

Davis collapsed, and he, too, began to laugh, a helpless, gasping laugh.
They had entirely forgotten the self-effacing secretary, but the noise
of their dying laughter did not disturb him. He had already fallen
sideways in his chair, and would never wake again.

* * * * *

On the _Star Lord_, Tom and Dorothy sat in the empty lo