Captain Torkel's mouth became a hard, gray line. He stepped back, spread his legs apart, withdrew his flame-pistol. "Get in the rocket!" he burst. "That's an order!"
Lieutenant Washington laughed contemptuously.
The captain repeated, "Get in the rocket! I'm your captain. So help me, I'll—"
"You'll do nothing," spat the rock-faced lieutenant. "Can you astrogate a rocket, Captain? Can you find your way back to Earth alone? Can you keep those engines going without Garcia or dodge those meteors without Fox? Go ahead and kill us. You might as well kill yourself, too. How about it, Fox?"
"Right," said Fox.
"And you, Kelly?"
"All," murmured Kelly.
"This is mutiny!" screamed Captain Torkel. "You can't—"
"We already have. Now get the hell away from here, Captain."
Despair fell upon Captain Torkel. His head sagged. The flame-pistol slipped from his fingers....