By LEIGH BRACKETTThe Ship held an ancient secret that meant
life to the dying cast-aways of the void.
Then Wes Kirk revealed the secret to his
people's enemies—and found that his betrayal
meant the death of the girl he loved.
Wes Kirk shut his teeth together, hard. He turned his back on Ma Kirk and the five younger ones huddled around the box of heat-stones and went to the doorway, padding soft and tight with the anger in him.
He shoved the curtain of little skins aside and crouched there with his thick shoulders fitted into the angle of the jamb, staring out, cold wind threading in across his splayed and n***d feet.
The hackles rose golden and stiff across Kirk's back. He said carefully,
"I would like to kill the Captain and the First Officer and the Second Officer and all the lit
