down there?" Chase asked. "See anything?"

"'Amphitrite's' still there," I said.

"She's _what_?"

"Still there," I repeated. "And she's in trouble."

"She's big. She can take it--but--"

"Here, you look," I said, flipping the probe switch.

"My God!" Chase muttered--as he took one look at the supply ship lying
dead in space, her protective batteries flaming. She had gotten one of
the Rebel scouts but the other two had her bracketed and were pouring
fire against her dim screens.

"She can't keep this up," I said. "She's been hulled--and it looks like
her power's taken it."

"Action imminent," Chase ordered, and the rangefinder took up his
chant.

We came storming out of Cth right on top of one of the Rebel scouts. A
violent shock raced through the ship, slamming me against my web. The
rebound sent us a good two miles away before our starboard battery
flamed. The enemy scout, disabled by the shock, stunned and unable to
maneuver took the entire salvo amidships and disappeared in a puff of
flame.

The second Rebel disappeared and we did too. She was back in Cth looking
for a better chance at the "Amphitrite." The big ship was wallowing like
a wounded whale, half of one section torn away, her armor dented, and
her tubes firing erratically.

We took one long look and jumped back into Cth. But not before Haskins
beamed a message to the supply ship. "Now you've seen it, you damned
storekeeper," he gloated. "What do you think?" "Amphitrite" didn't
answer.

"Probe out," Chase ordered, neglecting, I noticed, to comment on the
signalman's act.

* * * * *

I pushed the proper buttons but nothing happened. I pushed again and
then turned on the scanners. The one aft of the probe was half covered
with a twisted mass of metal tubing that had once been our probe. We
must have smashed it when we rammed. Quickly I shifted to the auxiliary
probe, but the crumpled mass had jammed the hatch. It wouldn't open.

"No probes, sir," I announced.

"Damn," Chase said. "Well, we'll have to do without them. Hold tight,
we're going down."

We flicked into threespace just in time to see a volcano of fire erupt
from "Amphitrite's" side and the metallic flick of the Rebel scout
slipping back into Cth.

"What's your situation, 'Amphitrite'?" our signal asked.

"Not good," the faint answer came back. "They've got us in the power
room and our accumulators aren't going to stand this load very long.