as like trying to navigate a
one-hundred-thousand-ton freighter in a pond. But Captain Crane did
it--she whom I had once accused, to myself, of misnavigating and
wrecking our other ship. The Orconites had formed themselves in a dense
group. We went into them, mowed them down, stopped under the great arch
which led to the inky black power rooms, backed up, and, as the
screaming lines reformed, crunched terrifically into them again.

By this time I saw in the corridor leading to our old ship, where the
darkness was only partially broken by our lights, a dark-headed grinning
man who was bent nearly double with the speed of his running.

"He's coming!" I howled.

"He's coming!" LeConte echoed to Virginia Crane in the control room.

And again the miracle of the hundred-thousand-tonner in the pond was
performed. Again the cruiser backed up and swung around. We headed
toward Koto, straight toward him.

* * * * *

There still were droves of Orconites to contend with. Flocks of them had
taken to their wings, and were filling the whole upper reaches of the
cavern, now that a juggernaut had the floor. They had spied Koto and
were swooping toward him. But they could not seize him without coming to
the floor, and they could not come to the floor without contending with
the juggernaut.

Now the cruiser seemed to swoop. I saw a swirl of wings all about,
battering down and down about the Jap; then I clung to the gangway rail
with one hand and reached far out with the other toward our friend.

He leaped, and I felt the warm contact of his hands gripping my arm. I
gave a heave, and landed him on the steps as neatly as a fisherman ever
netted a trout.

"All clear!" I screamed up the gangway.

It was not until we were on the deck, and the cruiser was gliding
magnificently forward toward the shaft which led outside to space and
light, that Koto spoke. But when he did, his words had significance.

"It's done!" he panted. "The gun is firing against the drums!"

We dove into the control room, and LeConte banged the outer door shut
and jammed huge catches, battening it down for our flight through space.

"Get out as fast as you can!" LeConte panted on, speaking now to Captain
Crane as she headed us gently into the tunnel. "The kotomite's due to go
off the second the first drums are disintegrated."

I dropped limply on to a seat beside the pilot and sat still.

*