Holding him tightly with a scissors grip, I lay there, inhaling deeply, trying to rid my body of pain. Morrie turned and twisted, trying to break free. With each movement he was sliding, until finally he was free. I rolled over and got to my knees, waiting for his next rush. I needed all the time I could get to regain my strength. Knowing this, Morrie wasted no time. He got ready to leap again. Then I saw Gail. She had picked up the pipe Morrie had dropped. She moved toward him, holding it high, ready to strike. My eyes, watching her, gave her away. Morrie saw my glance and turned just as she was ready to strike. He warded off the blow with his left arm, just as I'd done early in the fight, then he swung hard with his right. The punch landed solidly on Gail's jaw. She gave a startled moan of pain as she went down to the floor. That did more than all the resting in the world for me. The pain seemed to leave my body for a moment. At least I didn't feel it any more. All that was left was a desire to pound Morrie Grover into a shapeless pulp because he had struck Gail with his fist. I hit him like a truck. He went down and I fell on top of him. Holding him with my knees on his stomach I punched his face, his nose, his mouth, his jaw. Left, right. Left, right. One, two and again one, two. Morrie's head lolled with the punches and he was out. And then my strength left me. I fell over his unconscious body in a faint. * * * * * The darkness seemed to float away as I felt a cooling moisture on my face. I opened my eyes and saw Gail bending over me. Her clothing was in so many rags she looked naked. She had taken a strip of torn cloth, moistened it under the leaking water purifier, and was bathing my battered face. I turned my head and saw Axel and Dr. Spartan coming through the bulkhead door. "What in the devil happened here?" Spartan snarled. "Grover," said Gail, nodding toward Morrie, who was trying to lift himself off the floor. "He's hurt!" said Axel. "Attend to him," said Spartan. Then he turned to Gail. "And Drake? Were they fighting? Over you?" Gail stopped bathing my face. She began to sob. I sat up straight now. "Stop tormenting her!" I said, my anger rising to choke me. "Sir!" said Spartan. He always insisted we call him _sir_. Now that bit of rank pulling seemed more important to him than ever. His eyes showed steel-hard determination to force me into submission; his lips were tight with hatred. "I said 'Stop tormenting her!' and I didn't say _sir_!" I shouted. "Morrie tried to rape her. Can't you figure that out?" "Sir!" Spartan snapped. "And how do I know you weren't the one who tried it?" "Because, damn you, _SIR_, I'm her husband!" Spartan's face flushed angrily. "That's no way to talk to your superior officer!" he snapped. "For this impertinence--" He stopped in the middle of pronouncing sentence as his eyes fell on the water-purifying apparatus.