The men in the room had to hang on to the sides as the ship, the sun and Captain Stevens fought a duel with one another for control of the Cerebus III and the Regis. The thin traction line stretched taut once more between them. How much strain could it take? flashed though Skip's mind. Then one torn end seemed to be floating toward the Cerebus III, the other floated toward the Regis. For a split second the Cerebus III seemed to hang in space. Then everyone was flung violently in all directions as the force of the Cerebus III's engines on full power, plus the reaction of the ship's freedom from the drag of the Regis, shot the salvage vessel into space and plastered the crew against the nearest bulkheads. Skip came unwillingly back to consciousness. Some of the control room crew were already on their feet. Others were still lying quietly trying to regain their senses before they tried to get to their feet. A few of the men would never move again. The thrum of the engines had stopped. Captain Stevens was cursing silently in front of the controls. "Fouled," he spat. "That damn line must have whipped right into the stern discharge tubes and sealed them up so that we have no forward propulsive power. And look out there." He waved his arm at the screens. The ship had been flung thousands of miles out from its former position. Once more it appeared to be on the outer edge of the chromosphere. The Regis was not in sight. The constantly changing view in the vision panels indicated that the Cerebus III was spinning. This Captain Stevens corrected while speaking to the men. "Clean up the mess in here. Get the injured to the sick bay; and take care of the dead. We're in the same difficulty as the Regis. Our anti-gray and anti-heat units are working but the indicators show them losing power slowly. We must free those tubes or sooner or later we'll end up in the sun. Let's get down to the outer lock room and see what we can do." Bull and Skip followed the rest through the big ship. When they got to the lock room, Malcolm, his face white with pain from some injury, was struggling into a solar suit. One of the crew snapped the helmet over his head and handed him a cutting torch. Before any of the new arrivals could say a word, Malcolm was in the lock and on his way outside. Suddenly one of the lock tenders exclaimed. "My God, he took a suit with a discharged anti-heat unit filler. If his refrigerant cuts off while he's out there--" Bull grabbed another suit from its peg and began to draw it on. Captain Stevens grabbed his arm and shouted. "Hold it, Ensign, you're under arrest. We'll send--" "There's a man out there," interrupted Bull. "You said this was do or die, didn't you? Let me go." Stevens tightened his grip. "Listen you big fool--" * * * * *