"You fool!" Ray shook him violently. "There's mutiny! Up, quick!" He propelled the smaller man up the stairs. In the main corridor he stopped at the girl's cabin. "Here." He shook McVane again, then handed him the keys. "Get that girl to the control room." While McVane fumbled at the lock Ray hammered on Lodar's cabin. It was an age before the captain appeared. His dark eyes took in McVane and the girl, then swept back to Ray. "Trouble, eh?" Without waiting to hear more he reached for his gun and joined them. It was vital to hold the front of the ship. In any other section they would be merely prisoners. Lodar ran swiftly past McVane and the girl, while Ray brought up the rear, alert for attack. So Lodar was first to enter the control room. Ray didn't see what happened, but a moment later came the zing of ray guns, a scream. Campora stumbled from the room. He ran past Ray, still screaming, headed aft, waving an arm which was blasted to a stump. Ray went on, gritting his teeth. "Didn't expect us so soon," Lodar said grimly as they gathered in the control room. "He figured on holding this place, but he got too excited!" He pointed to the splatter of burned metal where Campora's shot had missed him. He turned to McVane who was looking sick. "Here, take this gun and stand by." Then, as he shoved the weapon in the other's shaking hand, "We'll jump 'em before they organize." He faced Ray. "Coming?" Ray nodded grimly. He was playing a travesty of an officer's duty, but it was the only way. The two went down the passage, peering into cabins as they headed for the well. Here Lodar slammed down the fire hatch, thus blocking off the lower deck. He had just snapped the last wedge when Ray heard the clang of metal aft, and the patter of feet. The crew had burned out of their prison. "Let's hold them here," Ray said. "I took their guns yesterday." "Good!" Lodar stood beside him, legs outspread. But as the first man, Williams, appeared and sighted Lodar, there was the vicious zing of a ray gun. The wall beside Lodar erupted sizzling metal as he ducked. "So you took their guns!" he snarled, firing at the same time as Ray. With yells, their attackers retreated, blasting wildly. The corridor filled with acid smoke and red-hot metal. Half the lights were gone, the rest were hazed by the stinking fumes. The mutineers were firing blindly from behind a corner, depending upon mere volume rather than any sort of aiming. "Back up!" Lodar gasped. "Campora gave them all those weapons." They retreated to the control room and bolted the door, while McVane and the girl stared. "We're in a spot," Lodar admitted. "And we can thank you for it," Ray snapped. "This crew will have no more compunction over killing us than they had over bumping off those Mutes!" "Well, now." McVane shifted his feet restlessly. "Let's not squabble. Anyway, 'twas Campora persuaded the captain to get rid of the Mutes."