f my crew
and passengers...."

"They burned our home and killed our servants," the girl said. "They
kidnapped my father and me...."

"They've been keeping us here as slaves."

"It's the Blackie Perales gang," the tall man with the gray beard
said. "They've been making us work for them, converting a blasted tub
of a contragravity ship into a spacecraft. I beg your pardon, Captain
Nichols; she was a fine ship--for her intended purpose."

"You're Captain Nichols?" Anse Dawes exclaimed. "Of the _Harriet
Barne_?"

"That's right. The _Harriet Barne's_ here; they've been making us work
on her, to convert her to an interplanetary craft, of all idiotic
things."

"My name's Yves Jacquemont," the man with the gray beard said. "I'm a
retired hyperspace maintenance engineer; I had a little business at
Waterville, buying, selling and rebuilding agricultural machinery.
This gang found out about me; they raided and burned our village and
carried me and my daughter, Sylvie, away. We've been working for them
for the last four months, tearing Captain Nichols' ship down and
armoring her with collapsium."

"How many pirates are there here?"

That started an argument. Nobody was quite sure; two hundred and fifty
seemed to be the highest estimate, which Conn decided to play safe by
accepting.

"You get us out of here," Yves Jacquemont was saying. "All we want is
a chance at them."

"How about arms? You can't do much with clubs and fists."

"Don't worry about that; we know where to get arms. The treasure
house, where they store their loot. There's plenty of arms and
ammunition, and anything else you can think of. They've used us to
help stow the stuff; we know where it is."

"Anse, you remember those scows we saw, in the big room before we came
to the broad passage? Take four men in the jeep; have them lift two of
them and bring them here. Then, you get out to the end of the tunnel
and call the _Lester Dawes_. Tell them what's happened, tell them they
can get gunboats all the way in, and wait to guide them when they
arrive."

When Anse turned and climbed into the jeep, he asked Yves Jacquemont:
"Why does this Perales want an interplanetary ship?"

"He's crazy!" Jacquemont swore. "Paranoid; megalomaniac. He talks of
organizing all the pirates and outlaws on the planet into one band and
making himself king. He's heard that there are Space Navy superweapons
on Koshchei--I suppose there are, at that--and he wants to get a lot