"You take one side, Gregg; I'll take the other. Don't go aboard; she might collapse." "I'll pick up the men without power and alive. The others with power suits will do the same. Then we'll meet out here, about where we are now?" "Yes. And hurry, Gregg! Every mile toward the Moon makes it that much harder. We're falling fast." "Good luck!" I shoved away from him. And within a minute, as he went in an arc toward the _Cometara_ bow and I toward her stern, I suddenly thought of that returning enemy vessel. My last look through the 'scope had shown that she was returning; and then I had forgotten it. My gaze swept the firmament now. I had no 'scope instruments within the helmet. With the naked eye the enemy ship was not in sight. But I knew that meant little; within a moment she could come in view and be here if she were going at any great velocity. There were on the _Cometara_, at the time of the disaster, some sixty-odd men; perhaps forty had gotten away. And I could see very soon that not more than fifteen, or less, out here were alive. Two with power were ahead of me now, slowly floating past the wrecked dome of the stern. One had picked up two others, found them alive and was towing them out. They went past me, moving very slowly so that I could see that two were all that one of us could tow and attain any velocity at all. I contacted with the leader. He was one of Grantline's men. "Two or three hundred feet out," I directed. I gestured. "Grantline said to meet out there. I'll tow others." "Yes. Around the stern you'll find--God! Haljan, look!" A mile from us the enemy ship was in view. Passing--no! Stopping! With incredible retardation she had plunged into view, was here, and yet had no great forward velocity. She seemed no more rapid than a great air liner winging past, so close that her reddish-tinged bulging hull length showed clearly. The discs were gone. The funnel set on top of her was sloped diagonally toward us as she rolled on her side, so that momentarily I could see down into it. There was some mechanism down there. The bow radiance was a narrow opalescent beam in advance of the bow. "Slowing, Haljan!" "Yes, stopping. Don't try to meet Grantline. Tow your men away!" "Or should we board the _Cometara_ and hide?" "No. They've come back to bombard her." I kicked at him violently. With his two drifting figures clinging behind, he swung past me. I headed behind the stern. Upon its dangling framework several of our men were glued, lying there inert. I caught a glimpse of the interior of the stern, the littered deck; men lying there had been stricken before they had time to get into their suits.