one
direction while Jayjay moved sedately in the other.

The ship was spinning slightly, all right. When he finally grabbed a
chair, he found that there was enough spin to give him a weight of an
ounce or two. He sat down as best he could and took a good look
around.

Aside from "The Pride of the Pecos" and a couple of other books, the
air was remarkably free from clutter. There hadn't been much loose
stuff laying around. A pencil, a few sheets of paper--nothing more.

There was one object missing. Jayjay looked around more carefully, and
this time he saw a hand protruding from the space "beneath" the low
table. He bent down for a better look and saw that Jeffry Hull was
unconscious. Blood from his nose was spreading slowly over his face,
and one eye looked rather battered. Jayjay grasped the protruding
wrist and felt for a pulse. It was pumping nicely. He decided that
Hull was in no immediate danger; very few people die of a bloody nose.

The lighting in the lounge was none too good; the low-power emergency
system had come on automatically when the power from the ship's
engines had died. Jayjay wondered just what had happened. There had
been a hell of an explosion; that was all he knew.

He wondered if anyone else aboard was alive and conscious, and decided
he might as well find out. He took a long dive toward the central
stairwell that ran the length of the ship's long axis and looked down.
The emergency door to the cargo hold was closed. No air, most likely.
The way up looked clear, so he scrambled up the spiral stairway.

A few feet farther up, he found that he had passed the center of the
ship's rotation. The _Persephone_ was evidently toppling end-over-end,
and the center of rotation was in the lounge itself. The heavy cargo in
the hold was balancing the lighter, but longer, part of the ship above the
lounge. He began climbing down the stairwell toward the navigation and
control sections.

Somewhere down there, somebody was cursing fluently in Arabic.

"Illegitimate offspring of a mangy she-camel! Eater of dogs! Wallower
in carrion!" And then, with hardly a break: "Allah, All-Merciful,
All-Compassionate! Have mercy on Thy servant! I swear by the beard of
Thy holy Prophet that I will attend more closely to my duties to Thee
if Thou wilt get me loose from this ill-begotten monstrosity! Help me
or I perish!" The last words were a wail.

"I'm coming!" boomed Jayjay in the same tongue. "Save thy strength!"