eads with the terrific acceleration.

And in the same moment, the Consops cruiser reacted. The Connie commander
was ready to fire guided missiles, when his target suddenly,
mysteriously, blasted into space at optimum acceleration. There was only
one reason the Connie could imagine: His cruiser had been spotted. The
ambush had failed. It was one thing for the Connie to lie in ambush for
a single, deadly surprise blast at the Federation cruiser. It was quite
another to face the nuclear drive ship with its missile ports cleared for
action. The Connie knew he had lost.

Rip and the Planeteers saw the Consops ship suddenly flame away, then
turn and dive for low space below the asteroid belt, in a direction
opposite to the one the _Scorpius_ had taken. The Planeteers' helmet
communicators rang with their cheers.

The young officer clapped Santos on the shoulder and exclaimed weakly,
"Good shooting!"

The corporal turned anxiously to Koa. "The lieutenant's pretty weak.
Can't we do something?"

"Forget it," Rip said. There was nothing anyone could do. He was trapped
inside his space suit. There was nothing anyone could do for his wound
until he got into air.

Koa untied his safety line and moved to Rip's side. "Sir, this is
dangerous, but there's just as much danger without it. I'm going to tie
off that arm."

Rip knew what Koa meant. He stood quietly as the big sergeant major put
the line around his arm above the wound, then put his massive strength
into the task of pulling the line tight.

The heavy fabric of the suit was stiff, and the air pressure gave further
resistance that had to be overcome. Rip let most of the air out of the
suit, then fought for breath until the pain in his arm told him that Koa
had succeeded. He inflated the suit again and thanked the sergeant major
weakly.

The tight line stopped the bleeding, but it also cut off the air
circulation. Without the air, the heating system couldn't operate
efficiently. It was only a matter of time before the arm froze.

"Stand easy," Rip told his men. "Nothing to do now but wait. The
_Scorpius_ will be back." He set an example by leaning against the
thorium crystal in which the cave was located. It was a natural but
rather meaningless gesture. With virtually no gravity pulling at them,
they could remain standing almost indefinitely, sleeping upright.

Rip closed his eyes and relaxed. The pain in his arm was less now, and he
knew the cold was setting in. He