Now Janus made up his mind, turned to him. "Ross, we're going across. You stand by the controls. Keep your eyes open, and your hand on the portable atom-blast."
Ross showed his disappointment, but obeyed orders.
"My hunch may be wrong," Janus warned, "but we'd better be careful anyway."
The men didn't need his admonition. As they passed out of the Wasp's lock and into the other, their hands all hovered around their atom-blasts. And the moment they stepped into the alien spacer they knew Janus' hunch hadn't been wrong. Looking down a long empty corridor, they saw a barred door; beyond that door was the stern compartment where the gap was in the metal hull.
But the rest of the spacer was still air-tight.
Janus flashed them a look that said, "See?" They threw back their helmets. Soundlessly they walked toward the bow, listening intently for any sign of life. They passed some narrow cross-corridors and many doors, all tightly closed. Devries, bringing up the rear, glanced behind him occasionally. Nothing. Nevertheless he shivered. There was a jittery tension in the very air.
They came in sight of the navigation room, and stopped suddenly. Janus stared at the odd looking controls. "I never saw a spacer like this before!" he whispered.
The voice behind him didn't whisper, it rang hollowly down the long corridor.
"No, I am sure you did not. Do not go any farther, please."