The astrogator's sensitive fingers closed the last switch. Around the plowing freighter, the void strained and twisted in the flux of new forces, squeezing the vessel out of the universe as a grape is squeezed from its skin. * * * * * It was at that moment of passing the barrier, that the skags--after a million years in the dream-barren sleep of suspended animation--awoke from their life in death. The time-reverting effect of minus point returned their bodies to that instant in the forgotten past when they had retreated into mass oblivion. First to be jolted into life in the Star Rover's dim gray hold was the mind of K'Gol. Tentacles rustled in violent wriggling activity, then massive eyelids opened to reveal cold purple eyes. As inhuman strength massed in his limbs, K'Gol stood erect, found the release to his prison shell and pressed the button. The transparent envelope collapsed, leaving him free. Thought vibrations brought perplexed messages from the two other skags. K'Gol studied his surroundings and said: "We have failed. The gas nebula penetrated and we are in the realm of the dead." "We are dead, yet we breathe." "Let us look around. We must arrive at the truth." Stumbling along with heavy tread, the skags made their way from compartment to compartment until they found a ladder, by which they mounted. Only the faint throb of the auxiliary engines, now supplying the warpers, was to be heard. On the deck, K'Gol found two erect bodies in sculptured attitudes, the unconscious shapes of Second Officer Charles Guhn and a boatswain. All three skags halted, racked by uncontrollable revulsion at sight of the alien species. K'Gol's limbs glowed with yellow light and he reached forth to death-shock the monsters. But the skag behind him warned: "They may be harmless. Perhaps, we should wait until they awaken." They explored the ship from bow to stern, stopping only to wonder at the warper coils which they would have designed differently. "It is clear. We are prisoners in a vessel-between-the-stars." Presently, they found a control that opened the starboard view ports. Their eyes were greeted by the wrenching chaos of hyperspace. "It is a new dimension. Our captors are highly advanced and their minds are impervious to our probing. We must take over, before they recover." The skags hurried through the freighter, gathering up all possible weapons and locking them in the hold. Then, K'Gol mounted the bridge and familiarized himself with the instruments and controls. * * * * *