"twenty-two of us," kevin said grimly. "there are twenty-two who survived." they all sat about, nursing their wounds. the ship had flung itself through hyper-space, now hovered a million miles off ganymede.
"you're wrong. there are twenty-three." it was charlie stedman. in the darkness and confusion, he'd managed to fight his way back with them. but why?
"charlie!" steve forgot the question. "you're free too."
charlie lifted a neutron gun. "no. you're wrong. none of us is free. you'll find a ship has followed you here. and you're going to follow it back."
of course, steve thought dully. charlie was dead. charlie could not return as himself. but they were right back where they started from, for the creature who was charlie could force their return.
kevin stood near the viewport, spoke grimly. "he's not lying. there's a ship out there."
schuyler barling smiled coldly, took up his position near charlie. "you all rejected my command once," he said. "you shouldn't have. i had no desire to come back to earth like that. i've also learned that i can share my body on an equal basis with my master, something none of you would consider. now we'll take you back."
almost eighty men had died—for nothing. steve held teejay's hand briefly, released it. one life more wouldn't matter, and if there were a chance....
"charlie, don't you remember anything?"
"what should i remember?"
"i'm your brother."
"that much i knew when i called you on ganymede. but there are no emotional ties. keep back!"
steve took a step toward him. "you're my brother, and you wouldn't kill me. you can't."
it was wild, impossible, and he knew it. the creature was not his brother, had not been his brother for years. yet if some small vestige of his brother's emotional memories remained—
"keep back, i warn you!"
steve could see the finger tightening on the trigger when he dove. his shoulder jarred charlie's knees, and they went down together, rolling over and over on the floor. the neutron gun hissed once, between them, and charlie relaxed.
a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth for a moment, and he said, "steve." he died that way, with the smile still on his lips.
schuyler barling was laughing and screaming, froth flecking his chin. the delicate balance between parasite and host had been entangled, possibly beyond repair. neither could dominate, and the result was a hopeless, gibbering hulk of a man.
"poor devil," said kevin. "he'll get psychiatric treatment on earth, if that will help."
steve crossed to the airlock, climbed into a spacesuit.
"what the hell do you think you're doing?" teejay wanted to know.
"you're forgetting about the other ship. we haven't got a blasting cannon on the frank buck, and there isn't one down on the gordak, either. but with no absorbing medium in space, one of these neutron guns can be a potent weapon." steve clamped the fishbowl helmet down over his head and activated the airlock.
soon he stood outside, with nothing but space on three sides of him. on the fourth, his magnetic boots gripped the frank buck's steeloid hull as he set himself, ready to fire the small hand gun.
energy flared brightly from its muzzle, and the other ship, a slim, sinister shape miles off in the void, flared up with it and dissolved in a shower of sparks and mist. but the neutron gun had a kick which dislodged steve from the hull and sent him spinning off into space.
through the lock-port, no more than four feet away, he saw kevin donning a vac-suit. the big exec reached out to grab him but his arm fell a full foot short. all at once, kevin was dwarfed by the anthrovac as the big animal joined him, scratching its head as kevin reached out hopelessly into space. the gap was increasing.
did the anthrovac understand? no, steve thought; an anthrovac could no more understand than a parrot could actually talk. but like a parrot, an anthrovac could mimic.
a huge hairy arm reached out into space, the hand locking on steve's gauntleted fist. he was drawn back into the frank buck and to safety, and it was many minutes before they could stop the anthrovac from probing out experimentally into empty space.
