f good you'd do," Lucky mumbled. "You got a broken arm. The only
reason he sent you is because he didn't want to pay you while you was in
the hospital so he cooks up this trip to get his money out of you. And
say," he turned to me belligerently, "when did I ever crack up a ship?
When did I ever even dent one of the babies?"

"You haven't," I was forced to admit, "but that's just because of that
screwy luck of yours. But it won't last forever and one of these days
it's going to run out just when you need it. So just remember--no
stunting this trip or you'll be out of the strata for the rest of your
natural life."

"Aw, that's the trouble with this racket," Lucky grumbled, "a guy can't
have no fun no more. Back when I was with the Space circus--"

"Okay, okay," I cut in, "I've heard that before. Just fly your ship,
now, and forget about the deep dark plot of the company to take all the
joy out of your life. I'm going to take a look-see at the atomic floats
and get the passengers bundled together."

I stood up and crawled over him and opened the door leading to the body
of the ship. I could still hear him grumbling as I slid the light
chrome-alloy door shut. I chuckled to myself and headed up the aisle to
the baggage compartments. Lucky Larson was a legend as space pilots go.
An unpredictable, erratic screwball but one of the finest rocket riders
who ever flashed through the void.

Company regulations and interplanetary commissions were the bane of his
existence. He made his own rules and regulations and got by with it.
That is he _had_ gotten by with it. Now they were cracking down on him.
He had been grounded twice and the chief had threatened to set him down
for life if any more infractions were charged to him. I shook my head
gloomily. He was a great guy, the last of a great and gallant army of
space adventurers, but he was on the way out. The rules were necessary,
vital to safe space travel and the Lucky Larsons would have to live up
to them, or else.

* * * * *

My mind was a long way away from the cabin of the space ship and maybe
that's why I got what I did. I didn't see it coming. One minute I was
walking through the aisle, thinking about Lucky Larson and the next
second something slammed into the back of my head knocking me to my
knees.

Through a haze of red and white lights I heard a voice bark, "Toss him
into a chair and grab that good arm of his."

I wasn't out. Just