Borion nodded and reached toward the repellor lever. He pushed it gently forward and then looked at his altimeter. He seemed to be dissatisfied with the altimeter reading and pushed forward the repellor lever a little more. Then he looked again at the altimeter, and an expression of bewilderment came over his face. With a muttered exclamation he jammed the repellor lever as far ahead as it would go, at the same time watching the altimeter. Dynamon sensed that something was wrong as he watched the color drain out of the navigator's face. "The Saints preserve us!" the navigator cried hoarsly. "Something has gone terribly wrong--the repellor isn't working! We're dropping at a frightful rate of speed--!" Borion leapt to the loud-speaker system and issued rapid orders to the navigating engineers. "What's going to happen to us?" Dynamon demanded. "I don't know," Borion said, his face ashen. "I think it is just a simple mechanical failure in the controls from the repellor lever down to the magnets. I don't know how soon my workers can discover the trouble and repair it. In the mean time--" "In the mean time," Dynamon broke in gloomily, "we may all be spattered all over that gray landscape." "Either that," Borion gritted, "or we burn to a crisp from the atmospheric friction. I can feel it getting warmer in here already." * * * * * Dynamon fought down the sickening sensation of panic that was starting to creep over him. "How long do you think we have got?" he said with an effort. "At the most," said Borion staring, white lipped, at the altimeter, "at the most, I should say a half an hour." The door to the control room burst open and Thamon rushed in closely followed by Keltry. "I heard you talking to your engineers, Borion," the scientist said rapidly. "Are we in trouble?" "We are," said Borion, "and it may be the last trouble any of us ever have. Our repellor has gone out for some reason. And we're heading for the surface of Saturn like a meteorite." "Can't anything be done?" said Thamon. "My engineers are doing all they can to find the source of the trouble," Borion replied. "But until they do, I can't slow the ship up." Keltry's great brown eyes were enormous as she moved over beside Dynamon and took his right hand in hers. "As long as I'm with you, Dynamon," she said in a low voice, "I'm not afraid to die. But I hate to see your expedition fail. Perhaps the fate of the Earth depends on us here in this Carrier." "I know," said Dynamon, squeezing her hand. His eyes followed Borion as the navigator went to the loud-speaker system again. But apparently the news from below was not encouraging, and Borion's shoulders sagged as he turned to face the other three people in the control room.