"You and Dreyer remain here," he said to Phyfe. "Terry and I will try to make it to the control room or wherever this so-called Commander is keeping headquarters. If we can capture him and gain control of the ship, you should hear from us within an hour. If not, you'll know we have failed, and then it will be up to you to make a try." The older men nodded. Silently, he and Terry slipped through the doorway. The rest of the iris doors on the corridor were all closed. Underwood pressed the release lock on the one adjacent to his own recent prison. The opening flared wide, revealing Roberts, one of the surgeons, and the three men who had formed his party. "Underwood!" Roberts exclaimed. "What happened?" Underwood cautioned him to quiet and explained briefly. "Locate some weapons if you can. There should be some in the corridor lockers. Make your way down, and release them. Try to hold the locks against the entry of any more of the Disciples until we can gain control inside the ship. We have no idea how many are here." The men nodded, exuberant at the opportunity for action against the enemy. There should be weapons in a corridor compartment only a short distance toward the rear, Underwood knew. Ahead, there was an additional compartment from which he and Terry could reinforce their own armament. The next room they tried was empty. They thought at first that the one adjacent to it was also empty, but as they started to move away, Terry exclaimed, "Look! There on the floor!" One of their men was lying sprawled, the back of his shirt covered with blood and burned tissue. Underwood and Terry stepped in and shut the iris door. The man looked up and smiled feebly as they looked down at him. "Hi, Doc," he said. It was Armstrong, one of the ship's engineers. "What happened?" asked Terry. "Did you try to buck them?" The engineer answered painfully. "No. It was a sort of object lesson. I think. The Commander--Rennies, they call him--gave me his personal attention. But have you got the ship back?" Underwood shook his head. "We've just broken out and managed to free a few of the others. Can you hang on a while until we can get help?" "Yeah, sure. Don't worry about me." * * * * * "Do you know how many of them there are aboard?" "About twenty took us over in the beginning. We were puzzled when we thought so many of you were coming back at once. Sessions and Treadwell down in the engine room were killed outright and a couple more of the boys pretty badly shot up when they tried to resist. They're the only ones I know of, besides me. Rennies and his gang took up headquarters in the control room the last I heard. That's about all the dope I can give you." "It helps," said Underwood. "We can take care of twenty of them, if we can get organized. Take it easy, old man, and we'll be back with help." The engineer smiled and his eyes closed.