Kent stood up. "You offered me a drink a couple of days ago, Sammy. I'll take that drink now." Sammy parted with the bottle, almost reluctantly. Knight strode to the porthole and looked out at the star-studded panorama. _We're near Earth, so very, very near. We're carrying her doom._ He turned his back on the porthole, hoisted the bottle. "A toast, Sammy," he said. "To might-have been. To Earth--which, but for this ship, might have reached the stars." Knight put the mouth of the bottle to his lips and tilted it. The fiery liquor burned in his mouth, seared at his throat, sent warm fingers reaching through his belly. He hurled the bottle to the floor. It smashed against the duralloy and the brown liquid spread. Smashed! Like Earth as the Thought Conquerors' conquests spread. "Are you batty, Kent?" Knight strode from the cubicle without answering. * * * * * Bob Mallory jerked his red head around when Knight came striding into the pilot room. It _had sensed him_, Knight thought. It _knows how I hate_ It, And--his heart was filled with a bright blaze of hope--It _fears me!_ Mallory's atomic pistol was out, but Knight was reckless. He leapt forward. _Come into_ my _mind, Thing! I know you. I can fight you now. I have no weapon, no answer to your strength, but you are afraid of me!_ Somehow, Knight dodged the flashing bolt, touched Mallory's arm. It _accepted the challenge and came to him._ But the pain was sufferable. He could stand the pain! His mind was exultant. It called orders to Kent Knight and Knight answered. "Mallory," he cried, even as a part of his mind battled against _It_. "You must turn the ship, head it away from Earth. We're carrying a cargo of death!" Mallory's handsome face was puzzled. A sort of apathy was mixed with it. "Move, damn you!" Knight snapped. "Fire in the aft bow rockets, kick this ship around. Signal! Signal!" The pain of _It_ didn't seem to increase, and its control of his will wasn't growing stronger. _So much pain_, he thought happily, _has vaccinated me against_ It. _Oh, please, let there be time!_ Mallory turned slowly toward the control board. He was shaking his head dazedly. "Don't shout so," Mallory said finally, almost petulantly. "I have a terrific headache." He beat at his forehead with the back of a clenched fist. The puzzled look was fading from his face. He turned suddenly to stare at Knight. "What's the matter with you, Kent? Are you going to throw another fit?" "Damn you, Bob, can't you hear? Kick this ship around. We're loaded with death, I tell you." "You crossed the line," Mallory said, accusingly. _It_ was going wild within Knight, but it wasn't hurting so very much. The pain wasn't so strong that it completely occupied Kent Knight's mind.