There could be no escape from them. Not when they rallied in such numbers. Even in that moment, the Independent ship was slowly swinging. A numb sickness came to Boone. He'd counted on days alone here ... days to lay waste the Helgae city till at last he found Eileen. Now that margin was reduced to cycles. For once Krobis found that he--Boone--and three carriers were missing from the sphere-ship just after it left Hyperion's orbit, it would be mere hours before Cartel ships were landing. After that, there'd be Venus Barracks, as well as the emptiness of failure. If he could only find Eileen before it happened.... He flicked off the visiscreen's main switch. Like the hideous magnification of an echo, a scream rang through the carrier. Boone whirled. As he did so, the blond giant's head appeared, framed in the power-converter hatchway. His eyes were white-rimmed, staring, his left arm limp and bloody. "Monsters!" he shrieked. "Monsters--!" Those were the last words that he ever spoke. For as he shouted, six great clawed hands stretched through the hatch behind him and convulsed around his body. The two top ones tore his head off.... CHAPTER VI Boone died a thousand times in that one moment. Then, shouting a warning to the four remaining crewmen, he caught up an axe from the rack of emergency equipment and crept towards converter-room and monster. The thing had withdrawn now, dragging the dead man's body with it--for what awful purpose Boone could not even guess. Yet the question that lay implicit in the thought made him pause just short of the door for the fraction of a second. It turned out to be a pause that saved his life. For in that same instant a claw-hand snaked back through the hatchway. Filth-encrusted nails scraped along his arm, endeavoring to seize him. Boone jerked back with a hoarse, involuntary oath. Wildly, he swung the axe. The keen blade bit into the monster's extended arm. A muddy sludge of blood gushed forth. The claw-hand jerked back. Yet the thing made no sound--not a single groan or snarl or murmur. Boone hesitated, even more wary than before. He kicked a fallen spanner towards the doorway. Like lightning, the monster lunged from its hideout--and now Boone saw why it had made no outcry. The thing had no head! It consisted of arms only--six hairy, humanoid arms radiating out from a central core that looked like an enormous mushroom button. Careening, the creature changed course. The arms clawed out to clutch Boone. Leaping wide, he slashed with the axe--a savage blow with all his strength behind it, straight for the central core, the button. There was a sound like a watermelon bursting. The button broke and flew apart, not so much sliced as shattered. A sickening stench erupted through the cabin. The arms sagged, limp save for spasmodic twitchings. Half-sick with the sight, the smell, Boone stumbled back. But before he could even drop the axe, a new cry came.