"I did not even know I had hit her," Miko was saying. "Not until I heard she was dead." He added sardonically, "I hoped it was you I had hit, George. And I will tell you this: You hate me no more than I hate you. If it were not for your knowledge of radium ores--" "Is this to be a personal wrangle?" Rankin interrupted. "I thought we were here to plan--" "It is planned," Miko said shortly. "I give orders, I do not plan. I am waiting now for the moment--" * * * * * He checked himself. Moa said, "Does Rankin understand that no harm is to come to Gregg Haljan?" "Yes," said Rankin. "And Dean. We need them, of course. But you cannot make Dean send messages if he refuses, nor make Haljan navigate." "I know enough to check on them," Miko said grimly. "They will not fool me. And they will obey me, have no fear. A little touch of sulphuric--" His laugh was gruesome. "It makes the most stubborn very willing." "I wish," said Moa, "we had Haljan safely hidden. If he is hurt--killed--" So that was why Miko had tried to capture me? To keep me safe so that I might navigate the ship. It occurred to me that I should get Carter at once. A plot to seize the Planetara? But when? I froze with startled horror. The diaphragms at my ears rang with Miko's words: "I have set the time for now! In two minutes--" It seemed to startle both Rankin and George Prince almost as much as I. Both exclaimed: "No!" "No? Why not? Everyone is at his post!" Prince repeated: "No!" And Rankin: "But can we trust them? The stewards--the crew?" "Eight of them are our own men! You didn't know that, Rankin? They've been aboard the Planetara for several voyages. Oh, this is no quickly-planned affair, even though we let you in on it so recently. You and Johnson. By God!" * * * * * I crouched tense. There was a commotion in the stateroom. Miko had discovered that his insulation was cut off! He had evidently leaped to his feet; I heard a chair overturn. And the Martian's roar: "It's off! Did you do that, Prince? By God, if I thought--" My apparatus went suddenly dead as Miko flung on his insulation. I lost my wits in the confusion; I should have instantly taken off my vibrations. There was interference; it showed in the dark space of the ventilator grid over Miko's doorway; a snapping in the air there, a swirl of sparks. I heard with my unaided ears Miko's roar over his insulation: "By God, they're listening!" The scream of a hand-siren sounded from his stateroom. It rang over the ship. His signal! I heard it answered from some distant point. And then a shot; a commotion in the lower corridors.... The attack upon the Planetara had started! I was on my feet. The shouts of startled passengers sounded, a turmoil beginning everywhere. I stood momentarily transfixed. The door of Miko's stateroom burst open. He stood there, with Moa, Rankin and George Prince crowding behind him. He saw me. "You, Gregg Haljan!"