showed strong white teeth. "You're the first junior officer I ever met
who admitted he didn't know everything about everything. You can depend
on me, sir. I won't steer you into any meteor swarms."

Koa had half turned to shake hands. Suddenly he spun on around, banging
his head against the deck. Rip felt a surge of relaxing muscles that had
been braced against acceleration. At the same time, silence flooded in on
them. Rip murmured "_Brennschluss_," and the murmur was like a trumpet
blast.

The _Scorpius_ had reached velocity, and the nuclear drive had cut out.
From terrific acceleration, they had dropped to zero. The ship was making
high speed, but velocity cannot be felt. For the moment the men were
weightless.

A nearby spaceman had heard Rip's comment. He spoke in an undertone to
the man nearest. His voice was pitched low enough that Rip couldn't
object officially, but loud and clear enough to be heard by everyone.

"Get this, gang. The Planeteer officer knows what _Brennschluss_ is. He
doesn't look old enough to know which end his bubble goes on."

Rip started to his feet, but Koa's hand on his arm restrained him. With a
violent kick, the big sergeant major shot through the air. His line of
flight took him past the spaceman, and somehow their arms got linked. The
spaceman was jerked from his post, and the two came to a stop against the
ceiling.

Koa's voice echoed through the ship. "Sorry. I'm not used to no-weight.
Didn't mean to grab you. Here, I'll help you back to your post."