to discuss matters at unhampered length and to make decisions.
Each was, of course, almost as well versed in engineering as he was in
his own specialty. All ships' officers from First to Fifth had to be.
And, as long as they lived or until the _Procyon_ made port, all
responsibility rested: First, upon First Officer Deston; and second,
upon Second Officer Jones. Therefore Theodore and Bernice Jones came
aboard Lifecraft Two, and Deston asked Newman to flit across to
Lifecraft Three.

"Not me; I like the scenery here better." Newman's eyes raked Bernice's
five-feet-eight of scantily-clad sheer beauty from ankles to coiffure.
"If you're too crowded--I know a lifecraft carries only fifty people--go
yourself."

"As a crew-chief, you know the law." Deston spoke quietly--too quietly,
as the other man should have known. "I am in command."

"You ain't in command of _me_, pretty boy!" Newman sneered. "You can
play God when you're on sked, with a ship-full of trained dogs to bite
for you, but out here where nobody has ever come back from I make my own
law--with _this_!" He patted his side pocket.

"Draw it, then!" Deston's voice now had all the top-deck rasp of his
rank. "Or crawl!"

The First Officer had not moved; his right hand still hung quietly at
his side. Newman glanced at the girls, both of whom were frozen; at
Jones, who smiled at him pityingly; at Adams, who was merely interested.
"I ... my ... yours is right where you can get at it," he faltered.

"You should have thought of that sooner. But, this once, I won't move a
finger until your hand is in your pocket."

"Just wing him, Babe," Jones said then. "He looks strong enough, except
for his head. We can use him to shovel out the gunkum and clean up."

"Uh-uh. I'll have to kill him sometime, and the sooner the better.
Square between the eyes. Do you want a hundred limit at ten bucks a
millimeter on how far the hole is off dead center?"

The two girls gasped; stared at each other and at the two officers in
horror; but Jones said calmly, without losing any part of his smile: "I
don't want a dime's worth of that. I've lost too much money that way
already." At which outrageous statement both girls knew what was going
on and smiled in relief.

And Newman misinterpreted those smiles completely; especially Bernice's.
The words came hard, but he managed to say then. "I crawl."

"Crawl, what?"

"I crawl, sir. You'll want my gun----"

"Keep it. There's a lot more