He looked out through the port and saw the two Federation cruisers closing in on the Connie. Apparently the Connie commander had agreed to let the cruisers come alongside. The ball-bat blasted to the _Aquila_, paused at an open port, then slid inside. The valve was shut before Rip could unbuckle his harness. Air flooded into the chamber and the lights flicked on. The space officer gave Rip a hand out of the harness, and the young Planeteer went through the hatch to the deck. The inner valve opened and a lean, sandy-haired officer in space blue with the insignia of a commander stepped through. Grinning, he hurried to Rip’s side and twisted his bubble, lifting it off. "Hurry, lad," he greeted Rip. "I’m MacFife. Get out of that suit quick, because ye don’t want to miss what’s aboot to happen." With his own hands he unlocked the complicated belt with its gadgets and equipment, disconnected the communicator and ventilator, and then unfastened the lock clips that held top and bottom of the suit together. Rip slipped the upper part over his head and stepped out of the bottom. "Thanks, Commander. I’m one grateful Planeteer, believe me!" "Come on. We’ll hurry right across ship to the opposite valve. Lad, I’ve a son in the Planeteers and he’s just about your own age. He’s on Ganymede. He and the others will be proud of what ye’ve done." MacFife was pulling himself along rapidly by the convenient handholds. Rip followed, his breathing a little rapid in the heavier air of the ship. He followed the Scottish commander through the maze of passages that crossed the ship and stopped at a valve where spacemen were waiting. With them was an officer who carried a big case. "The instruments," MacFife said, pointing. "We’ve tinkered with them a bit just to make it look real." "But why do you want to board the Connie?" Rip asked curiously. MacFife’s eye closed in a wink. "Ye’ll see." There was a slight bump as the cruiser touched the Connie. The waiting group recovered balance and faced the valve. Rip knew that spacemen in the inner lock were making fast to the Connie cruiser, setting up the airtight seal. It wasn’t long before a bell sounded and a spaceman opened the inner valve. Two men in space suits were waiting, and beyond them the outer valve was joined by a tube to the outer valve of the Connie ship. Rip stared at the Connie spacemen in their red tunics and gray trousers. One, a scowling officer with two pistols in his belt, stepped forward. Rip noted that the other Connies were heavy with weapons, too. None of his group had any. "I’m the commander," the scowling Connie said. "Bring your instruments in quickly. We will check them, then you get out." "Ye’re no verra friendly," MacFife said, his burr even more pronounced. He led Rip and the officer with the instruments into the Connie ship.