Her holds were filled with spare batteries and a whole dozen replacement cathodes as well as her own replacements. Her crew was filled to the eyebrows with gravanol, and there must have been a mile of adhesive tape and cotton on their abdomens. At 6-G she left, and at 6-G she ran, her crew immobilized but awake because of the gravanol. And though the acceleration was terrific, the tape kept the body from folding of its own weight. When they returned, they would all be in the hospital for a week, but their friends would be with them. Ten minutes after take-off, the signals ceased. Walt said: "Keep her running. Don's saving electricity. Tell me when we pick him up again." Franklen, the pilot, nodded. "We haven't got a good start yet. It'll be touch and go. According to the slipstick boys, they must be clapping it up at between twenty-five hundred and five thousand miles per second to get that far--and coasting free or nearly so. Otherwise they'd have come in. Any suggestions as to course?" "Sure. Whoop it up at six until we hit about six thousand. Then decelerate to four thousand by using 1-G. We'll vacillate in velocity between four and five until we get close." Forty-one hours later, the _Relay Queen_ made turnover and began to decelerate. * * * * * Channing said to Captain Johannson: "Better cut the decel to about a quarter-G. That'll be enough to keep us from bumping our heads on the ceiling and it will last longer. This is going to be a long chase, and cutting down a few MPS at a half-G isn't going to make much never-mind. I'll hazard a guess that the boys are on their way right now." "If you say so," said Johannson. "You're the boss from now on. You know that wild bunch on the Station better than I do. For myself, I've always felt that an answer was desirable before we do anything." "I know Franks and my wife pretty well--about as well as they know me. I've put myself in Walt's place--and I know that Walt would do. So--if Walt didn't think of it, Arden would--I can assume that they are aware of us, have received our signals, and are, therefore, coming along as fast as they can. They'll come zipping out here at from five- to seven-G to what they think is halfway and then decelerate again to a sane velocity. We won't catch sight of them for sixty or seventy hours, and when we do, they'll be going so fast that it will take another twenty hours worth of manipulation to match their speed with ours. Meanwhile, I've got the gun timed to shoot our signal. When the going gets critical, I'll cut the power and make it continuous." "You're pretty sure of your timing?"