CHANDLER SAID, “MURDERED? Mi-god!” Captain Algase said a more effective and less printable thing which ended in, “Come on!” And he and Chandler pounded down the runway, their footsteps ringing on the Jacob’s-ladder, disappearing in the distance.
Dan Mallory, his thoughts chaotic, sat chained to his bucket seat by the obligation of guiding the spaceship through the treacherous void. His fingers played over the control keys automatically; slowly the chaos left his brain and cold, clear, reasoning thought took its place.
Wilmot dead. Why? The first thought that suggested itself was Norton. Motive—jealousy. The desire to get Susan Wilmot’s husband out of the way so—
But that was illogical. Norton was a skirt-chaser and a quixotic fool, but he wasn’t a criminal. Murder was not in his line. W
