Additional minutes passed and the officer returned with the cases. Wordlessly he handed them to Galliene and MacFife. The Connie commander snapped, "There. Now get out of my ship." Galliene bowed. "You have been a most courteous and gracious host," he said. "Your conversation has been stimulating, inspiring, and informative. Our profound thanks." He shook hands with Rip and MacFife, bowed to the Connie commander again, and went out the way he had come. There wasn’t anything to say after the Frenchman’s sarcastic farewell speech. MacFife, Rip, and the officer with the instruments went back through the valves into their own ship. Once inside, MacFife called, "Come with me. Hurry." He led the way through passages and up ladders to the very top of the ship, to the hatch where the astrogators took their star sights. The protective shield of nuclite had been rolled back and they could see into space through the clear vision port. Rip and MacFife hurried to the side where they were connected to the Connie. Rip looked down along the length of the ship. The valve connection was in the middle of each ship, at the point of greatest diameter. From that point each ship grew more slender. MacFife pointed to the Connie’s nose. Projecting from it like great horns were the ship’s steering tubes. Unlike the Federation cruiser which blasted steam through internal tubes that did not project, the Connie used chemical fuel. "Watch," MacFife said. There were similar tubes on the Connie’s stern, Rip knew. He wondered what they had to do with the plan. MacFife walked to a wall communicator. "Follow instructions." He turned to Rip. "Remember, lad. The _Sagittarius_ is on the other side of the Connie, about to do the same thing." Rip waited in silence, wondering. Then the voice horn called, "Valve closed!" A second voice yelled, "Blast!" A tremor jarred its way through the entire ship, making the deck throb under Rip’s feet. He saw that the ship’s nose had swung away from the Connie. What in space— "Blast!" The nose swung into the Connie again with a jar that sent Rip sliding into the clear plastic of the astrodome. His nose jammed into the plastic but he didn’t even wince, because he saw the Connie’s steering tubes buckle under the _Aquila_’s sudden shove. And suddenly the picture was clear. The two Federation cruisers hadn’t cared about getting into the Connie ship. They had only wanted an excuse to tie up to it so they could do what had just been done. They had sheared off the enemy’s steering tubes, first at the stern, then at the bow, leaving him helpless, able to go only forward or back in the direction in which he happened to be pointing! MacFife had a broad grin on his face. As Rip started to speak, he held up his hand and pointed at a wall speaker. The Connie commander came on the circuit. He screamed, "You planned that! You—you—" He subsided into his own language.