Blair Freedman sighed.
"Did you ever have the urge to deliberately miss the entrance of the tunnel? To hit full on against the asteroids?"
Graham stiffened, feeling ice water sluice suddenly into his veins.
"Are you nuts?"
Freedman relaxed. His grip on the control lever became lighter, more expert.
"No," he said slowly. "No, I'm okay. For a minute I was crazy, I guess. That's why I called you."
Graham studied the face of the younger man. Freedman was tall, rather slim. Graham could never decide just what made Blair Freedman attractive to the opposite sex, unless the secret lay in his deep, gray eyes and that shock of alarmingly red hair.
"I don't get it," he said. "Sure, the old routine gets tiresome. But it's a job and someone has to do it. We can't all be in the Warrior Patrol."
Freedman had seemingly come to his senses now. He sent the ship straight at the dark maw of the tunnel, flashed his colors to the guard ship that hovered near the entrance with its big guns trained on him, and then they were in the darkness.
The brilliant lamps of the X26 sent splashes of light along the walls. Blair Freedman shuddered.