in an outsized bug suit and carrying the
biggest Moril blaster contained in a star ship's arsenal that could
still be called portable.

"What in condemned space are you doing here?" I shouted.

I was ready to give it to him right off the top of the regs about the
relationship between ship's master and agents-on-assignment and the
responsibilities of command, but the leg chose that moment to fail.
Until then, I hadn't really been worried. I fell forward against the
pitch of the slope, caught myself with my arms, and rolled over on my
back. I hit my left thigh with my fist and felt absolutely nothing.
Massage didn't help.

I heard Moya panting down the brow of the hill.

"Keep away!" I shouted. "Get back to the ship!"

Moya bent over me; he had opened the hood of the bug suit, and his face
was grave.

"What's the trouble, Callum?"

"Can't you take orders?"

He shook his head. I pointed to the leg. He looked swiftly at the broken
skin.

"How does it feel?"

"That's the trouble; it doesn't."

He grabbed my arm, put it over his shoulder, and got me on my feet.

We made good time, considering.

"Too bad you're such a shrimp," I said.

"I can take you on any time."

Shuttler IV was closest, parked on a shelf fifty yards below the top of
the hill, but Moya was heading to miss it.

"I programmed for auto, just in case, and the generators are up to
power. We waste time to save time. That way I can give you some help on
the ascent."

The generator part was fine; the rest wasn't.

It started to rain again, just before we reached 250's shuttler.

I put my face up to it.

Moya got me through the lock and onto an acceleration couch. Then he
headed for the panel. I was beginning to feel a desperate weakness, but
my head was still clear.

"Wait a minute," I said. "What's your gee tolerance?"

"High, but--"

"So strap me and raise this couch to vertical. Then override the auto
and take us up fast."

He blinked.

"Listen," I said. "This feels like a neuro-toxin. Remember snake-bite
aid? Well, the numbness is up to my groin now. No place for a
tourniquet. And nothing here for freezing."

It was strange going up. I blacked out almost immediately, but Moya took
it flat and apparently stayed alert all the way.

"Space!" I managed to gasp finally. "Any more of that sort of thing and
I'd have ended up stupid."

Then there was utter confusion.

* * * * *

I came to full a