My mind wandered; I imagined myself on the Bridge, half-believed I was there. I was resting on the OD bunk, and Clay was standing beside me. A long time seemed to pa.s.s.... Then I remembered I was on the floor, bleeding internally, in a tiny room that would soon lose its door. But there was someone standing beside me.

I didn"t feel too disappointed at being beaten; I hadn"t hoped for much more than a breather, anyway. I wondered why this fellow had abandoned his action station to hide there. The door was still shut. He must have been there all along, but I hadn"t seen him when I came in. He stood over me, wearing greasy overalls, and grinned down at me. He raised his hand. I was getting pretty indifferent to blows; I couldn"t feel them.

The hand went up, the man straightened and held a fairly snappy salute.

"Sir," he said. "s.p.a.ce"n first cla.s.s Thomas."

I didn"t feel like laughing or cheering or anything else; I just took it as it came.

"At ease, Thomas," I managed to say. "Why aren"t you at your duty station?" I went spinning off somewhere after that oration.

Thomas was squatting beside me now. "Cap"n, you"re hurt, ain"t you? I was wonderin" why you was down here layin down in my "Sposal station."

"A scratch," I said. I thought about it for a while. Thomas was doing something about my chest. This was Thomas" disposal station. Thomas owned it. I wondered if a fellow could make a living with such a small place way out here, with just an occasional tourist coming by. I wondered why I didn"t send one of them for help; I needed help for some reason....

"Cap"n, I been overhaulin" my converter units, I jist come in. How long you been in here, Cap"n?" Thomas was worried about something.

I tried hard to think. I hadn"t been here very long; just a few minutes.

I had come here to rest.... Then suddenly I was thinking clearly again.

Whatever Thomas was, he was apparently on my side, or at least neutral.

He didn"t seem to be aware of the mutiny. I realized that he had bound my chest tightly with strips of shirt; it felt better.

"What are you doing in here, Thomas?" I asked. "Don"t you know we"re in action against a hostile ship?"

Thomas looked surprised. "This here"s my action station, Cap"n," he said. "I"m a Waste Recovery Technician, First Cla.s.s, I keep the recovery system operatin"."

"You just stay in here?" I asked.

"No, sir," Thomas said. "I check through the whole system. We got three main disposal points and lots a little ones, an" I have to keep everything operatin". Otherwise this ship would be in a bad way, Cap"n."

"How did you get in here?" I asked. I looked around the small room.

There was only one door, and the gray bulk of the converter unit which broke down wastes into their component elements for re-use nearly filled the tiny s.p.a.ce.

"I come in through the duct, Cap"n," Thomas said. "I check the ducts every day. You know, Cap"n," he said shaking his head, "they"s some bad laid-out ductin" in this here system. If I didn"t keep after it, you"d be gettin" clogged ducts all the time. So I jist go through the system and keep her clear."

From somewhere, hope began again. "Where do these ducts lead?" I asked.

I wondered how the man could ignore the mutiny going on around him.

"Well, sir, one leads to the mess; that"s the big one. One leads to the wardroom, and the other one leads up to the Bridge."

My G.o.d, I thought, the Bridge.

"How big are they?" I asked. "Could I get through them?"

"Oh, sure, Cap"n," Thomas said. "You can get through "em easy. But are you sure you feel like inspectin" with them busted ribs?"

I was beginning to realize that Thomas was not precisely a genius. "I can make it," I said.

"Cap"n," Thomas said diffidently, "it ain"t none a my business, but don"t you think maybe I better get the doctor for ya?"

"Thomas," I said, "maybe you don"t know; there"s a mutiny under way aboard this ship. The doctor is leading it. I want to get to the Bridge in the worst way. Let"s get started."

Thomas looked very shocked. "Cap"n, you mean you was hurt by somebody? I mean you didn"t have a fall or nothin", you was beat up?" He stared at me with an expression of incredulous horror.

"That"s about the size of it," I said. I managed to sit up. Thomas jumped forward and helped me to my feet. Then I saw that he was crying.

"You can count on me, Cap"n," he said. "Jist lemme know who done it, an"

I"ll feed "em into my converter."

I stood leaning against the wall, waiting for my head to stop spinning.

Breathing was difficult, but if I kept it shallow, I could manage.

Thomas was opening a panel on the side of the converter unit.

"It"s O.K. to go in Cap"n," he said. "She ain"t operatin"."

The pull of the two and a half gees seemed to bother him very little. I could barely stand under it, holding on. Thomas saw my wavering step and jumped to help me. He boosted me into the chamber of the converter and pointed out an opening near the top, about twelve by twenty-four inches.

"That there one is to the Bridge, Cap"n," he said. "If you"ll start in there, sir, I"ll follow up."

I thrust head and shoulders into the opening. Inside it was smooth metal, with no handholds. I clawed at it trying to get farther in. The pain stabbed at my chest.

"Cap"n, they"re workin" on the door," Thomas said. "They already been at it for a little while. We better get goin"."

"You"d better give me a push, Thomas," I said. My voice echoed hollowly down the duct.

Thomas crowded into the chamber behind me then, lifting my legs and pushing. I eased into the duct. The pain was not so bad now.

"Cap"n, you gotta use a special kinda crawl to get through these here ducts," Thomas said. "You grip your hands together out in front of ya, and then bend your elbows. When your elbows jam against the side of the duct, you pull forward."

I tried it; it was slow, but it worked.

"Cap"n," Thomas said behind me. "We got about seven minutes now to get up there. I set the control on the converter to start up in ten minutes.

I think we can make it O.K., and ain"t n.o.body else comin" this way with the converter goin". I locked the control panel so they can"t shut her down."

That news spurred me on. With the converter in operation, the first step in the cycle was the evacuation of the ducts to a near-perfect vacuum.

When that happened, we would die instantly with ruptured lungs; then our dead bodies would be sucked into the chamber and broken down into useful raw materials. I hurried.

I tried to orient myself. The duct paralleled the corridor. It would continue in that direction for about fifteen feet, and would then turn upward, since the Bridge was some fifteen feet above this level. I hitched along, and felt the duct begin to trend upward.

"You"ll have to get on your back here, Cap"n," Thomas said. "She widens out on the turn."

I managed to twist over. Thomas was helping me by pushing at my feet. As I reached a near-vertical position, I felt a metal rod under my hand.

That was a relief; I had been expecting to have to go up the last stretch the way a mountain climber does a rock chimney, back against one wall and feet against the other.

I hauled at the rod, and found another with my other hand. Below, Thomas boosted me. I groped up and got another, then another. The remaining slight slant of the duct helped. Finally my feet were on the rods. I clung, panting. The heat in the duct was terrific. Then I went on up.