"There it is," Nelva whispered, gesturing. "Just be careful. It can't carry you much beyond the gravitational pull. You may end up playing tag with Phobos and Deimos!" Dane noted that she stood well back, deep in the cover of the platform-beams. Brooding, again he studied the carrier, so notably unguarded. The silence echoed so loud it was making the skin along the back of his neck prickle. Quite deliberately, then, he crossed to the cargo ramp, making it a point to follow the shadows, close in to the platform-beams. A stack of loading-cases stood beside the ramp. Pausing briefly, Dane glanced back to where Nelva still stood craning to watch him. Then, with no warning, he whirled and threw his whole weight against the high-stacked cases. For a moment they tottered on the ramp's edge. Then, with a crash like cataclysm incarnate, they tumbled down in an avalanche of ringing metal. But even as they fell, Dane leaped back into the shadows once again. In a rush, he spanned the distance between him and Nelva. She stared at him wide-eyed, mouth agape. But only for a moment. For then, as water spews from a geyser, the carrier erupted guards--three of them. From the level below, too, came the sound of running feet, converging on the cargo ramp. Beside Dane, Nelva whispered, "What is it? What's happening?" "A trap." Dane laughed harshly. "But of course you wouldn't know anything about that." The girl's nostrils flared. "Are you trying to say something?" For a moment Dane leaned forward, not answering. Then, as the last of the guards disappeared down the cargo ramp, he spun about, swept the girl up bodily over his shoulder, and headed for the carrier at a dead run. He was already on the loading ladder before the first shout of discovery arose behind him. Inside, now. The hatch slammed shut. The launching lever pulled. A sudden, swift sense of acceleration. Then the easing off as equalizer pressure rose to match it. In the viewer, Mars fell away beneath them. Dane glanced at Nelva Guthrie. She stood beside him, the lovely oval of her face a study in pallor. Her fingers trembled as she smoothed the ash-blonde hair, and fear flickered in the grey eyes. "Clark, where are we going?" Her voice came out a ragged whisper. "Don't you realize they're sure to catch us?" "Are they?" Dane chuckled grimly. "Of course. They'll have every landing-platform covered." Dane laughed again. It was incredible, how well he suddenly felt, all things considered. "Not ours they won't cover!" And then: "Because damn it, we're going straight to Callisto!" CHAPTER VI Dane stretched the little carrier's resources to the limit, pushing it as far out from Mars as he could coax it.