Al heaved a sigh and swung onto the ladder, letting himself down, which was outward, toward the rim of the wheel. "I might have trouble," he said. * * * * * Al put his hands against the bulkhead door. It was cool enough. The Death Glow wasn't seeping into the ship. The Glow itself wasn't the contagious part. It was the sparks that shot from men's bodies. The early stages of the disease were the dangerous ones, for then the sparks were often too small to be seen. In the later stages a man suffering from Quinnies gave off his own warning and could be avoided. Al took a small intercom phone from a box beside the doorway. He spoke into it. "Joe." A voice came back. "Yeah. That you, commander?" "Yes, Joe. How do you feel?" "Like hell, I guess. Funny though, there's no pain. Just annoying. Like the hiccups. And I'm getting weaker." "You're in the last stages." "Maybe. Maybe not. I've heard of guys that lived fourteen months shooting sparks worse than I'm doing right now." "I'm coming in, Joe." "Give me a break, Al. I won't come near you or Oakey. I'll stay here. There's food, water ... everything I need. Just let me live till it starts to hurt. Maybe I'll ask you to come in then." "There isn't time, Joe. Besides, it'll be easier this way. You're dying. You're shooting sparks from your hair roots. Something might happen and Oakey and I would come down with the Quinnies. We are the only earthmen left now, Joe." "Don't be too sure." Joe's voice was harsh, like the hissing of sparks. "You might have the Quinnies and not know it." "You're not in pain?" "Hell no. I told you I wasn't. But I'm lit up like the Fourth of July, Guy Fawkes Day, Bastille Day and the Chinese New Year." "Your brain's a dynamo of energy, Joe. It's shooting Quinnies in all directions through every nerve fibre of your body." "Are you trying to make it easier, or something?" "I'm trying to make you understand. I've got to kill you. I'm not doing it because I want to. You're my best friend, Joe. We've had a lot of swell times together. But I've got to kill you--Oakey and I have to land on the Green Planet and we're not taking the Quinnies there with us." "You're doing me a favor, huh? Some favor. Better make sure you haven't got the Quinnies yourself before you try to make like God." "I'd know if I had 'em," said Al. "I'm coming in, Joe." "I'll kill you first," said Joe. "As a favor to myself." Al shot back the bolt. "Don't try it, Joe." The commander pulled on the door. It swung open a couple of feet. A bolt of red fire swept through the opening. But Al had expected this and he was safe behind the neutralizing door. Then Al stepped into the opening. He didn't need light, for Joe was a red glow against the quadrant wall. Joe stood with his feet wide apart, with an aura of fire around his body. Flaming sparks seemed to lick the air to form an outline of a human being.