Margot smiled.
The smile suddenly froze on her face.
The _Enterprise_ lurched as if an unseen giant hand had slapped it.
At that moment Ramsey leaned forward over the controls, battling to
bring the _Enterprise_ back on course.
And let down his mental guard.
_... precise place in hyper-space her father must have meant ... home of
proto-man ... thinks I'm going to stop there, she's crazy ... heck, I'm
no mystic, but there are things not meant to be meddled with ..._
The ship swooped again. Ramsey went forward against the control panel
head-first and fell dazed from the pilot chair. His head whirled, his
arms and legs were suddenly weak and rubbery. He tried to stand up and
make his way back to the controls again, but collapsed and went down to
his knees. He crouched there, trying to shake the fog from his brain.
With a cry of triumph, Margot Dennison leaped at him and bore him down
to the floor with her weight. He was still too dazed from the blow on
his head to offer any resistance when her strong hands tugged at his
belt and withdrew the m.g. gun. She got up with it, backing away from
him quickly toward the rear bulkhead as the ship seemed to go into a
smooth glide which could be felt within it. Vardin stood alongside
Ramsey, a hand to her mouth in horror. Ramsey got up slowly.
"Stay where you are!" Margot cried, pointing the m.g. gun at him. "I'll
kill you if I have to. I'll kill you, Ramsey, I mean it."
Ramsey did not move.
* * * * *
"So you knew about my father," Margot challenged him.
"Yeah. So what?"
"And this shoal in hyper-space is a world, isn't it?"