Evans closed his eyes. That meant that the life of the ship was doomed. There would be no way to save her. But the passengers could still be saved, if they got away soon enough, before the three Piles vaporized. "Wyman!" he whispered despairingly, "is there any single Pile that isn't heating?" "No, sir." "Is there any single Pile that's responding to your dampers?" "No, sir, not one." "Then, in your experience, they are all bound to go, sooner or later?" "I've never seen anything like this in my experience, sir. It looks bad." The door opened, and Jasperson slunk in. His skin had lost its cushioning, gray folds sagged under his cheek bones, and black hollows outlined his glittering blue eyes. The Captain ignored him, and spoke into the phone. "Very well. In exactly fifteen minutes I shall sound the alarm and we'll abandon ship. I can't take a chance on waiting any longer. Keep a skeleton crew at work on those Piles to hold them down as much as possible, and have all other crewmen report to their lifeboat stations." "Right, sir. But Boat C has gone, you remember. When we dumped Pile Ten." "Yes. Distribute her passengers among the remaining boats." He turned to look at Jasperson, who was shivering as though he were freezing. "Is there no hope, Josiah? Is this the end?" "The end of the _Star Lord_, yes. I hope to save the passengers. You heard me. In fifteen minutes all preparations should be finished, then I sound the alarm. Don't worry, Burl. There's room enough for everybody, your skin is safe." "But won't the lifeboats be horribly crowded?" "Crowded, yes, but not impossibly so. If they can carry two hundred and fifty people in fair comfort, they can jam in three hundred by squeezing a bit." Jasperson shuddered. "So many people! And so close together! I can't bear crowds, Josiah, you know that. They make me feel sick and confused. It will be terrible!" "Whether you like it or not, there's nothing else to do if we want to save lives. I'll sound the alarm in a quarter of an hour. Get yourself ready, but whatever you do, don't tell the others yet. I don't want a panic on my hands until I'm ready to deal with it." Biting his lip, Jasperson turned, without a word, and shuffled out of the cabin. * * * * * Once in the corridor, he began to run, a shrivelled old man waddling on wings of fear down the hall to the dining room where empty tables waited in the elegant silence of gleaming silver and crisp white linen for the breakfast hour. Davis was standing at the sideboard, staring blankly at the flashing red light above the door. Jasperson ran up to him and clutched his arm. Looking around cunningly to see that they were alone, he whispered. "Davis, I want to talk to you." "Later, sir. That red light means I'm wanted at the briefing room." "Yes, but wait a minute!" "I'm supposed to go at once, sir." "A thousand credits if you'll listen to me a minute!"