"I can't climb up with you hanging on like that. I--I can't hold on much longer. This warp-station's at Earth normal gravity, Tremaine. My hands are slipping!" "Listen to me," Alan said. "We can still get out of this. I can climb up your back, then pull you up after me." "How do I know you will?" "You don't. If we just hang here, we're as good as dead." Alan could feel the strain in his arms as he clung to Haddix's suit. For Haddix, the strain was double. Haddix could not be expected to hang there more than a few moments. "I'm coming up," Alan said. "Don't try anything foolish." * * * * * Hanging by one arm, Alan reached up with his other hand and grasped the belt of Haddix's suit. Suspended there by both arms now, he reached up again for the flange of metal at the neck of Haddix's suit, where the glassite helmet fit. He got the gauntletted fingers of one hand around it, then almost lost his precarious grip. He swung sickeningly over the abyss for one harrowing moment, then held the flange with both hands. Taking a deep breath, he reached for the lip of the tube itself and soon clambered up and over. He lay there briefly, panting. He had never been nearer death in his life. "Help!" Haddix gasped. "I can't hold on much longer." Alan crouched there, looked over the edge. Haddix still clung with both hands. "Why did you try to kill me?" Alan demanded. "Did you kill my father and Eugene Talbrick too?" "It was Keifer!" Haddix cried. "Keifer thought you were suspicious. He was going to get you out of the way and keep using your name." "Did he kill my father?" "I don't know. Honest." "And Talbrick?" "One of my men did it. At Keifer's orders. Get me out of here, I'm begging you." "O.K.," Alan said. He braced himself and hauled Haddix up out of the tube, then turned and jetted back toward the waiting warp-ship. They entered the airlock together, waited for the green safety light which announced the return of normal pressure and air, then stripped off their deflated spacesuits and glassite helmets. Cat-quick, Haddix yanked an atomic pistol from his belt. Instinctively, matching reflex for reflex, Alan slapped it from his hand. The weapon roared, blasting the air over Alan's head as he dove for Haddix. They went down together, rolling across the floor. Alan was aware of Haddix shouting for help, of the man's long fingers closing on his throat, of a knee driven painfully into his groin. The inner lock door swung open. The warp-ship's pilot crashed through and scrambled on the floor after the atomic pistol. "Get out of the way, Captain," he said. "I've got him covered." But Haddix was a growling, choking, feline animal now, trying to squeeze the life from Alan's throat. Desperately, Alan groped blindly with his fingers. His thumbs found Haddix's eyes, gouging. Haddix screamed and tumbled clear, clawing at his face.