He had little time to conjecture. His feet felt the ship's shell take life. Snaking out his hands as rapidly as his reflexes allowed, he grabbed Skip around the waist with both arms. Instantly the full force of the ship's new direction and Skip's inertia fought a battle centered on Bull's shoulder joints. Long before his bones slipped from their shoulder sockets, Bull felt the pain of tensed and torn muscles course down his sides and chest. He heard himself screaming far away in his own helmet. But he held on. And then he lost consciousness. * * * * * Later. Much later; Bull woke to find himself lying in a bed in the hospital bay of the ship. His arms were stretched high over his head; held firmly in splints under tension. "So you've decided to come to, eh?" Bull turned his head to look at the bandaged figure in the next bed. "Kind of hard to recognize, I guess." The voice was familiar. "How come all those fancy bandages, Space Cadet?" Skip's voice was bitter and self-accusing. "Space Cadet is right. I was outside working on those tubes and never noticed we were getting close to the sun. I must have got a full dose of heat. How dumb can a guy get?" There was a silence between them. Then Bull spoke. "You saved my life out there, Skip. I couldn't have pulled myself in. That took guts. Thanks." "What do you call that last act of yours? There isn't another man on this ship that could--or would--have held on with those arms like that." Both men looked at one another. There would be times when experience and formal education might conflict in the future; but the remarks would never have an edge that mutual admiration wouldn't dull. "Admiring one another's bravery?" Both men shifted their eyes to the doorway where Captain Stevens stood. Resentment rose in both of them. Did he have to call them down and rub it in at a time like this? "Well? What have you got to say for yourselves?" Bull, realizing that there was no sense in trying to condone what he had done, answered with the first thing that popped into his mind. "Too bad we didn't reach the Regis, sir." "But we sure tried," Skip added. "The ship's crew gave everything it had. If we couldn't do it, it couldn't be done." "Nothing to say for yourselves?" Stevens persisted. "I guess not, Sir," Skip answered for both of them. Captain Stevens walked over and stood in the space between their beds. "Both of you seem to have missed an important point; in spite of all your experience--and all your learning." Bull and Skip were puzzled. "When that line from the Cerebus III to the Regis let go, what happened to us?" Stevens asked. "Why, we were flung from here to trouble," Bull exclaimed. Skip's face screwed up into a frown under his bandages. Then he let out a sigh of relief. "Of course." "Of course what, book boy?" Bull asked irritatedly.