acceleration chair before the ship shot away from the Deimos spaceport
toward the wreckage of the _Space Lance_.

"Braking rockets!" roared Kit. "Hit them hard, Sid."

The ship bucked under the force of the counter-acceleration, and the
veteran spaceman fought to keep her under control. He snapped out
another order. "Cut all rockets!"

The ship was suddenly quiet, hanging motionless in space in the middle
of the still-twisting wreckage. The huge bank of atomic motors, the
largest single unit on the ship, had already begun to swing around the
small moon Deimos in an orbit, while other shattered remains of the once
sleek ship began a slow circle around the motors themselves.

Astro was struggling into a space suit when Sid and Kit joined him in
the air lock. Quickly the three spacemen clamped their space helmets
closed and adjusted the oxygen nozzles. Then, after testing their suit
intercoms, they closed the inner-portal air lock, reduced the air
pressure, and opened the thick pluglike outer portal. They stared out at
the gruesome spectacle of torn hull plates, twisted spars, and broken
pieces of equipment floating gently in the velvet space, outlined
against the reddish hue of the planet Mars.

"Astro! Kit!" shouted Sid through the suit intercom. "Look, there's
Sticoon! Over there near that tube." Following Sid's pointing finger,
Astro and Kit turned toward an exhaust tube that had been ripped in half
by the explosion. The Martian spaceman's body floated next to it, limp
and broken. Astro shuddered. If Sticoon was dead, then there was little
hope for Tom. The big Venusian fought back tears.