zine now--something
had just emerged from the air lock through which they had entered the
second deck not many moments before. He helped the girl quickly down a
section of ladderlike stairs to the airseal connecting the second deck
with the storage, punched a wall button there. As the lock door opened,
there was another noise from the passage they had just left, as if
something had thudded briefly and heavily against one of the bulkheads.
Kerim uttered a little gasp. Then they were in the lock, and Gefty
slapped down two other buttons, stood watching the door behind them snap
shut and, a few seconds later, the one on the far side open on the dark
storage deck.

They scrambled down another twelve feet of ladder to the floor of a side
passage, hearing the lock snap shut behind them. As it closed, they were
in complete darkness. Gefty seized Kerim's arm, ran with her up the
passage to the left, guiding himself with his fingertips on the left
bulkhead. When they came to a corner, he turned her to the left again. A
few seconds later, he pulled open a small door, bundled the girl
through, came in himself, and shut the door to a narrow slit behind
them.

Kerim whispered shakily, "What will we do now, Gefty?"

"Stay here for the moment. It'll look for us in the vault first."

And it should go to the storage vault first where it had been guarding
Maulbow's machine, to hunt for them there. But it might not. Gefty eased
the gun from his pocket on the far side of Kerim. Across the dark
compartment was another door. They could retreat a little farther here
if it became necessary--but not very much farther.

They waited in a silence that was complete except for their unsteady
breathing and the distant, deep pulse of the _Queen's_ throttled-down
drives. He felt Kerim trembling against him. How did Maulbow's creature
move through the airseal locks? The operating mechanisms were simple--a
dog might have been taught to use them. But a dog had paws....

There came the soft hiss of the opening lock, the faintest shimmer of
light to the right of the passage mouth he was watching through the
door. A heavy thump on the floor below the locks followed, then a hard
click as the lock closed and complete darkness returned.

The silence resumed. Seconds dragged on. Gefty's imagination pictured
the thing waiting, its great, wedge-shaped head raised as its senses
probed the dark about it for a sign of the two human beings. Then a
vague rushin