The boy slunk away like a whipped dog. Once he hesitated and looked back, and then with lowered shoulders, he ploughed his way through the sand toward the space ship. Rawson watched him go. He felt as though he had been deserted by his last friend. This leaves me all alone, Rawson thought. Me against the crew. I've got to get command of the ship. The serum's got to go through. Saturn's depending on me. I still say Mom's right. You've got to know how to do things and have the guts to carry them through. I'm not quitting. And Jennifer Kane would be disappointed in me if I quit on my Star Point oath. She was so proud when I graduated. And when I received my promotions. Moved from underofficer to commander in three years. No wonder Durk is so bitter. But it takes scientific knowledge these days--that's it. Science will win a way out for me-- Rawson's mind began to work like an intricate machine. Thousands of stimuli of knowledge had been injected into his brain during his training; now his mind began to select and analyze these stimuli for the purpose of finding a solution to his predicament. Rawson's self-respect was the rock of his courage. I'll have to do this alone, he thought. As he saw that the crew members about the space ship had quieted down and that the camp was still for the night, he rose and fought his way against the wind toward the space ship, across the slippery neck of rock. The space ship was dark and silent. A crew man nodded sleepily beside the fire to the left. Yet he had to be careful. Other members of the crew might leap out at him at any moment. He slipped inside the space ship. He found the space suit. He donned it quickly, fastened the space helmet around his head. The space suit would help him in any emergency. He was moving from the lockers to the control room past the port when a guard saw him. The man grabbed for him. "Gotcha!" But the muscles strung on his bony frame exploded in power and the crew man fell aside. Rawson leaped through the lock and landed on the white ridge beside the quicksand pool. The guard's yells brought the rest of the crew, and they advanced on him from all sides. He backed slowly from the menacing circle, looking for an opening through which to dart. But they came from both sides of the ship. In his rear was the slimy quicksand. He backed toward it. One of the crew's stumbling feet loosened a boulder and it came hurtling toward Rawson. He leaped aside but his crane-like feet landed on gravel and he started to slide off balance backwards. The crew realized before Rawson did what was happening. "He's sliding into the quicksand! Stop him!" Rawson felt the pressure of the wet sand on the space suit. He struggled for a hold on the rocks. They came away in his hands. He slid deeper. He felt the suction at his feet, climbing up to his waist, over his shoulders.