"There's the Bay port, just ahead," Andy Groggins said. He had run ahead of Badger and the rest of the party. He had a slug-thrower with telescopic wire stuck under his arm. Strapped to his waist was a Geiss needle. He'd tied a bit of cloth around his forehead to keep sweat out of his eyes.

"We'll just ease our way in it," Red Badger said. His synthide shirt was torn, revealing his hairy freckled chest and prominent paunch. His small eyes gleamed as he pressed forward. He had a Krag beamer under his arm, its selector pointing to rapid intermittent.

The corridor widened at this point. There were separate passageways leading to "stores" in one direction and to "power" in the other.

As they came out into the wide opened area between corridors, a voice called out, "Freeze, you!"

Badger stood motionless. The others, coming along behind him, managed to slink into the shadows. But Red Badger felt very exposed. He didn't let his apprehension show, however.

He took two casual steps forward and said, "It's all right, the captain sent us." "He didn't tell me nothin' about that," the voice said.

Badger had it located now. It was coming from a paint locker on the far side of the corridor. The guard who was stationed here must have taken refuge when the trouble began elsewhere in the ship. But where was his partner?

"I don't blame you for being cautious," Badger said. "But I'm telling you it's all right. We're here to relieve you."

As he talked he peered ahead, trying to figure out how long it would take him to blast through the paint locker and kill the man inside. Too long, he decided. The guard could get him in a single well-placed burst first.

"Stop right there and drop your weapons," the guard called out.

"You're making a mistake," Badger said, and kept on coming. "Captain Hoban told us to secure this area as quickly as possible. Damn it, man, this is serious!"

"Stop right now, or—"

At that moment there was a double burst of slugthrower fire as Glint and Connie opened up almost simultaneously from opposite sides of the corridor. They held down their fire while the paint locker rattled up and down and bounced against the corridor wall, finally letting up only after blowing the door off the hinges and seeing the single guard inside fall out onto the deck.

"Let's go," Badger said, leading the way to the pod. "We're getting out of here."