He turned, but didn't answer. His eyes focused, from within the helmet, on Morrie's body, planted to the floor of the locks by magnetic boots, swaying lifelessly as the ship rotated on its axis. "What's wrong with him? Did he pass out?" "Dead." I said. Axel gave me the same kind of a look I must have given him when I wondered about the life line. He was thinking of the fight between Morrie and me. "How'd it happen?" he asked quietly. "Your guess is as good as mine," I said. "I found him that way. And somebody tried to kill me, Axel. Didn't you see how my line was loose and how I was drifting in space?" He shook his head, then reached down and examined my life line on the floor. The hasp was on the end. Someone had unfastened it. "I looked out the port and saw you pulling yourself in. I thought it was _your_ life line," he said. "It was Morrie's. I had to cut it to lash the tools topside." Axel didn't seem to believe me. Now he examined the section of line I'd used to tie Morrie and me together. Apparently satisfied, he went to look at the air gauge. A breathable amount of air was in the locks--we took off our helmets. Then we worked Morrie's loose. He was dead, all right. Dead and cold. Axel examined Morrie's helmet. His fingers probed inside where the valve from the air supply enters. "Stuck valve," he said. I looked relieved. "I thought somebody had killed him," I said. "Somebody did," said Axel. He pulled his fingers from the valve. They held a tiny piece of paper. "But it could have been an accident," I said. "There could have been enough air in the suit to keep him alive for some minutes," Axel said. "What killed him was stale air--carbon dioxide he'd exhaled. Somebody put that paper there to keep him from getting air. Probably didn't know what was happening till too late." I was no longer as suspicious of Axel. A murderer wouldn't be likely to explain how he killed his victim but I had to be sure. "You didn't answer me, Axel, when I asked how long you'd been in the locks." He gave me a strange look. "You think I took your life line off the ring?" I avoided his eyes. "Well, I guess I'd feel the same way. But I just came into the locks a few minutes ago. I'd just pumped the air out of the locks and was ready to go topside to help you and Morrie when I saw you outside. I didn't have time to cut your life line loose. You ought to know that if I had murder in mind, I could have pushed you back into space again." "I'm sorry, Axel," I said. "But things get screwed up in my mind. Nothing seems right out here in high space." "There was nobody around the locks when I entered them," Axel went on. "Gail and I were working in the machinery cabin till she got worried and asked me to check up on you. I figured I'd give you a hand. Joel's in the control cabin."