"When I said maybe there was a reason why the Biologic Survey wouldn't release any Hyra to fight the blight on Varro, you said the Survey was nothing but a bunch of fat-cat office-holders who had to make a lot of fool regulations to look like they were earning their salaries. You talked big about how it was your duty to help the poor bosula ranchers on Varro fight the blight. You tried to pretend money wasn't the reason why you were smuggling the Hyra out to them. You knew all the answers, everything would be all right! Oh, you were Mr. Know-it-all! "Now we're in deep space with an eroded hull. In deep space! I told you something would happen! I to--" McFeen slapped her hard across the mouth. "Keep that gabby trap of yours shut," he said threateningly. He hung over her menacingly for a moment. And then, relenting (after all, he and Alice had been through a lot together), "Stow it," he said. "No matter whose fault it is, complaining isn't going to help us now. We've got to figure a way out of this." Alice put up one hand and fingered her swelling lips. She nodded. "Yes," she whispered, "I guess we have." McFeen began to walk up and down the little cabin. "The way I figure it," he said, frowning, "is, this is the first time anybody's had any Hyra in deep space. They were all right as long as we were in the system; it wasn't until we hit deep that they began to increase. The deeper in we go, the faster their rate of increase is. "Hyra come from Pluto, and when the Biologic Survey tried them out on germs of the blight from Varro and found they controlled it, the tests were made on Terra. Still inside the system, I mean. And under system conditions Hyra increase so slowly that for one to bud off was a real rarity. "The way I figure it, conditions are different out here in deep. Maybe it's because inside the system there's always some gravity. Even off the planets, I mean. We don't notice it, but it stands to reason it must be there. When there's no gravity at all, the Hyra start to breed. And when they breed they give off a ... a kind of gas, or something, that attacks beryllium." "But we've got gravity on the ship," Alice said through her swollen lips. "We don't go floating around." "It isn't really gravity, Alice, it's just from the centrifuge." "Oh. Well, if it isn't, what is real gravity?" "I don't know exactly," McFeen confessed. "I never was good at theoretical stuff. Some kind of electro-magnetic force, I guess." * * * * * Alice nodded uncomprehendingly. "Couldn't we--couldn't we get rid of the Hyra, Mac?" she asked timidly. On impulse she put out her hand and touched his sleeve. "We could think up some way of killing them if we tried, I guess. You're awfully smart. And then we could start back home. I'm so scared, honey. Those Hyra scare me so."