Closing the cover, then, in total blackness, he began to lower himself down the tube. Hands, shoulders, feet; hands, shoulders, feet. Over and over again, as mountain climbers work their way up and down crevasses. After several minutes, he was startled by a sudden glow of light from above. He glanced up. The opening of the tube was nearly a hundred feet overhead now. He wondered if they would be able to pick him out in the darkness, this far down the shaft. "Can you see him?" called a voice that echoed through the steel tube. Conroy could see a head silhouetted against the light. "It goes straight down, and there's no ladder," came the reply. It was Bayliss Kent's voice. "I don't see him down there." "What kind of tube is this?" the first voice asked. Hal Lester, Kent's chief henchman. "Irrigation, I think." "Well, if he _has_ managed to get down it, he's gotten clean away. Bayliss, I told you we shouldn't have let Conroy know our plans." "Never mind that now!" Kent snapped coldly. "Search the cornfield! He must be here somewhere--and we've got to find him before the local agronomist comes by on his inspection rounds." * * * * * There was the sound of the door being lowered, and darkness came again. Peter Conroy heaved a sigh of relief and continued working his way down the tube. He knew these tubes well. His father was an Agronomist, and, until Peter had taken up navigation, he had helped his father on the farmlands. The ship was like a sealed world, a hollow metal planet five miles in diameter that was carrying its crew through space on the generations-long voyage to Procyon. Or would the starship ever get to Procyon? Was Bayliss Kent going to succeed in his plan to force the Commander to reverse the ship and return to Earth? Not if they depended on Peter Conroy to navigate for them, they wouldn't! Conroy, working his way down the tube, suddenly felt emptiness as he lowered one foot. He had come to the end of the vertical tube. Twisting himself upright, he dropped the remaining six feet into the huge arterial tube that ran horizontally into this sector of the ship. The escape hatch shouldn't be too far from here. The pipes needed cleaning after the irrigation period was over and the tubes had entrance ports for the purpose. Conroy strode down the tube in total darkness, keeping one hand against the side. He opened the hatch and found himself in one of the pumping rooms. "Halt right there!" a voice said. "You're under arrest!" It was one of the pumping room guards, levelling a snub-nosed stun gun at him. "Who are you? You know it's illegal to be in the irrigation tubes without authorization." "I know," said Conroy. He knew he had no time to make explanations. He had to get to the Ship's Commander.