The pilot used a safe two minutes of low blast to edge up to the asteroid. "I'll go into the airlock and put on my spacesuit," said Lundgard. "Then I'll jump down and you can put the ship in orbit. Don't try anything while I'm changing, because I'll keep this needler handy." "It won't work against a spacesuit," said Bo. Lundgard laughed. "I know," he said. He kissed his hand to Valeria and backed into the lock chamber. The outer valve closed behind him. "Bo!" Valeria grabbed the pilot by the shoulders, and he looked around into her face. "You can't go out there, I won't let you, I--" "If I don't," he said tonelessly, "we'll orbit around here till we starve." "But you could be killed!" "I hope not. For your sake, mostly, I hope not," he said awkwardly. "But he won't have any more weapon than me, just a monkey wrench." There was a metal tube welded to the leg of each suit for holding tools; wrenches, the most commonly used, were simply left there as a rule. "I'm bigger than he is." "But--" She laid her head on his breast and shuddered with crying. He tried to comfort her. "All right," he said at last. "All right. Lundgard must be through. I'd better get started." "Leave him!" she blazed. "His air won't last many hours. We can wait." "And when he sees he's been tricked, you think he won't wreck those links? No. There's no way out." It was as if all his life he had walked on a road which had no turnings, which led inevitably to this moment. He made some careful calculations from the instrument readings, physical constants of the asteroid, and used another minute's maneuvering to assume orbital velocity. Alarm lights blinked angry eyes at him, the converter was heating up. No more traveling till the links were restored. Bo floated from his chair toward the lock. "Good-bye, Valeria," he said, feeling the bloodless weakness of words. "I hope it won't be for long." She threw her arms about him and kissed him. The taste of tears was still on his lips when he had dogged down his helmet. Opening the outer valve he moved forth, magnetic boots clamping to the hull. A gulf of stars yawned around him, a cloudy halo about his head. The stillness was smothering. When he was "over" the asteroid he gauged his position with a practiced eye and jumped free. Falling, he thought mostly of Valeria. As he landed he looked around. No sign of Lundgard. The man could be anywhere in these square miles of cosmic wreckage. He spoke tentatively into his radio, in case Lundgard should be within the horizon: "Hello, are you there?" "Yes. I'm coming." There was a sharp cruel note of laughter. "Sorry to play this dirty, but there are bigger issues at stake than you or me. I've kept a rifle in my tool-tube all the time ... just in case. Good-bye, Bo." A slug smashed into the pinnacle behind him. Bo turned and ran. VI As he rose over the lip of the crater, his head swung, seeking his enemy. There!