In the darkness she heard a rapid-fire _thunk-thunk-thunk_ as the automatic guard system slid inter-compartment doors shut against sections of the ship suddenly airless. The doors were still thudding shut when another explosion came, from toward the bow. Then there was silence; a feeling of utter quiet and motionlessness. The fingers of fear enclosed her and her mind said to her, like the cold, unpassionate voice of a stranger: _The Gerns have found us._ The light came on again, a feeble glow, and there was the soft, muffled sound of questioning voices in the other compartments. She dressed, her fingers shaking and clumsy, wishing that Dale would come to reassure her; to tell her that nothing really serious had happened, that it had not been the Gerns. It was very still in the little compartment--strangely so. She had finished dressing when she realized the reason: the air circulation system had stopped working. That meant the power failure was so great that the air regenerators, themselves, were dead. And there were eight thousand people on the _Constellation_ who would have to have air to live.... The _Attention_ buzzer sounded shrilly from the public address system speakers that were scattered down the ship's corridors. A voice she recognized as that of Lieutenant Commander Lake spoke: "War was declared upon Earth by the Gern Empire ten days ago. Two Gern cruisers have attacked us and their blasters have destroyed the stern and bow of the ship. We are without a drive and without power but for a few emergency batteries. I am the _Constellation_'s only surviving officer and the Gern commander is boarding us to give me the surrender terms. "None of you will leave your compartments until ordered to do so. Wherever you may be, remain there. This is necessary to avoid confusion and to have as many as possible in known locations for future instructions. I repeat: you will not leave your compartments." The speaker cut off. She stood without moving and heard again the words: _I am the _Constellation_'s only surviving officer...._ The Gerns had killed her father. He had been second-in-command of the Dunbar expedition that had discovered the world of Athena and his knowledge of Athena was valuable to the colonization plans. He had been quartered among the ship's officers--and the Gern blast had destroyed that section of the ship. She sat down on the edge of the bed again and tried to reorient herself; to accept the fact that her life and the lives of all the others had abruptly, irrevocably, been changed.