A glance down the passage assured him that Lynn had the ladder up and the airlock sealed. Dimly, he was aware of angry yells from the messroom, the thud of boots against the bulkhead. He grinned. Door and bulkheads were of heavy steel. He stepped to the ladder well and blew shrilly on a whistle. The deep rumble of the jets answered at once as Captain Bascom threw in the controls. Sheets of roaring flame bounced from the ground up past the ports. From the outside, Matt realized, the _Argus_ must present an awe inspiring sight cloaked in fire. He felt the deck shudder, then press strongly against the soles of his feet. They were off. He grabbed Lynn in a bear hug and whirled her precariously around the shimmying deck. "We got 'em!" he shouted above the sullen thunder of the tubes. "We've trapped 'em! Nineteen!" Lynn gasped, "Put me down!" and struck him a hard blow in the solar plexus. Matt grunted, dropping her with a thump. "I don't see why you're so elated," she said grimly. A twinkle began to gleam in Matt's blue eyes. Lynn saw the twinkle and said, "If you don't keep your hands off those hussies, I'm going straight to your cabin and move all my things out!" "What?" Matt was jarred out of his complacency. "I said," she repeated with emphasis, "that if you even look cross eyed at any of those trollops, I'm leaving you flat! I move out! Is that clear?" "But, good Lord!" Matt burst out, "I didn't even know you'd moved in. Why ... I mean--what...." Lynn had the grace to look confused. She said indignantly, "You know what Isaac said yesterday as well as I do." "What _Isaac_ said?" He stared at her blankly. Then a light broke. "Oh, you mean about childr...." "Yes," she interrupted. "There are so few women. Not enough to go around, I mean. Obviously, we had to choose." She watched him defiantly, but not without anxiety. "Well, I've chosen. Of course, if you don't want me ... you do, don't you?" For answer Matt swept her into his arms. This time she came without resistance. "Oh, Matt," she said, "I was so scared that maybe you wouldn't want me. I--I...." She pushed back a little so that she could look into his eyes. "But, if you make any passes at those...." With a chuckle, Matt put his hand over her mouth. "You malign me, Lynn. I hadn't thought of such a thing. I was only thinking about the future of the colony. That was all." "I doubt it!" she said and kissed him hard on the mouth. * * * * * The trip to Fort Knox, only twenty miles off, was a prolonged crisis. Captain Bascom had been forced to angle the ship up at a slant, until they were miles high above the fort, and then descend perpendicularly. Every moment Matt thought the _Argus_ was going to lose momentum and plunge back to the ground. When the jets at length fell silent, he wiped the sweat off his face with his sleeve and looked at the bloodless features of Lynn. "Never again!" said the girl. "The next time we have to move, I walk!"