"It's a derelict all right," Devries said. "See that ragged gap in the hull near the stern?" He pointed and the others crowded around to look. He was right. In the side of the hull near the stern was a great jagged hole, that looked as though it had been made either by collision with a rogue meteor, or the blast of a space cannon. They watched in silence as the strange craft drifted toward them. There was no sign of life aboard her; no attempts at communication or of establishing her identity. Quite obviously the craft was deserted. Devries didn't like the looks of it one bit, and said so. It loomed up larger and larger as the tiny _Wasp_ was drawn swiftly to it. Then with a little shock the _Wasp_ clanged against the strange ship's side and clung there. The crew moved for the space-suits. Commander Janus snapped: "Wait a minute!" He stood there frowning, his gray hair bristling. "Something funny here. We'd better go slow." His eyes were troubled. "But a derelict, sir," Blake said. "Space code says we're obliged to board her, examine her log." "Don't quote me the space code!" Janus snapped. "Point is, is she a derelict? Maybe you failed to notice we didn't drift to her by natural attraction; we were pulled! Someone left on her magniplates. Why?" "Could have been an accident," Blake suggested. Janus shook his head. "Another thing. Her outer lock is open and we landed smack against it. All we've got to do is step over. How extraordinarily convenient." Ketrik peered through the turret at the black derelict. "Say, you're right!" He grinned, started to quote an ancient nursery rhyme: "Walk into my parlor, said the spider--" He stopped suddenly, aware of young Ross standing there with eyes aglow and eager. Ross was the novice member. The _space-ennui_ had begun to get to him, so Janus had ordered him to his cabin to sleep it off. Once the _ennui_ gets a grip on a man in the vast outer spaces he's not much good for anything, even though he might be a good spaceman in the inner planets. Now Janus made up his mind, turned to him. "Ross, we're going across. You stand by the controls. Keep your eyes open, and your hand on the portable atom-blast." Ross showed his disappointment, but obeyed orders. "My hunch may be wrong," Janus warned, "but we'd better be careful anyway." The men didn't need his admonition. As they passed out of the _Wasp's_ lock and into the other, their hands all hovered around their atom-blasts. And the moment they stepped into the alien spacer they knew Janus' hunch hadn't been wrong. Looking down a long empty corridor, they saw a barred door; beyond that door was the stern compartment where the gap was in the metal hull. But the rest of the spacer was still air-tight.