The inside of the column was as smooth as the outside, but for a U-shaped handle that protruded a few inches from one curved side. The handle, which was 1 inch square, had 5 small groves on the inside surface and 1 small dent on the outside.

Jay placed his gloved hand around the handle and pulled, but nothing happened. So he placed the 3 fingers of 1 hand and 2 of the other around the handle and put his left thumb in the dent on the outside and pulled. The curved wall of the column slid closed and he could feel the column begin to rise.

"The people that built this spaceship must have had five fingers and a thumb on each hand," Jay thought, "To me, that would be very awkward to have 2 extra fingers on each hand."

The column stopped moving, and the side of it slid open. In front of Jay was a narrow cubicle that was just big enough for him to fit into. Jay stepped into the cubicle and the opening in the column closed behind him; then, he began to feel pressure build up against the outside of his suit.

"This must be an air lock," Jay thought.

The pressure built up to a certain amount and stopped; then, the wall in front of Jay began to slide to the side to reveal a set of steps that spiralled upward into the sphere.

Jay stepped forward and began to climb the steps, which were higher than Jay's legs were used to. When Jay reached the top of the stair, which was in the center of a room, he was very surprised to see the small bones of a skeleton scattered around a chair that set on the deck in front of, what Jay believed to be, the control panel for this small spacecraft.

Jay walked over to look down at the horned skull, and the many small bones of the broken skeleton. Most of the skeleton was wrapped in some sort of cloth, and there was a belt around the cloth that had a few odd shaped devices attached to it.

There were no bones in the chair, or on the keyboard of the control panel, so Jay moved the skeleton to the side with his foot and sat down in the chair.

"My instruments show," Jay thought, "that the pressure in this spacecraft is close to normal for me, but I won't know about the air until I take off my helmet."

Jay loosened the helmet seals below his chin and opened the neck line of the helmet. After inhaling the air, which came from the inside of the sphere, a few times, Jay couldn't smell anything that was out of the ordinary, so he took off the helmet and laid it next to the keyboard that set below the many instruments on the panel.

"Looks like I'm going to live a little longer," Jay thought as he looked over the dials and screens above the keyboard. "There's no telling what will happen if I touch any of these keys. I better let the technicians who will come up here later fool around with them."

Jay stood up and looked around the small room, which was domed at the top and had more of the dials and screens on its curved wall. Across the room from the where he stood, Jay saw what he had hoped to find: An air tank attached to the back of a vacuum suit and another tank hung on the wall beside it. Jay walked over to examine the tanks to see if he could make one of them fit his suit's air connections.

The tanks were smaller than the one on his suit, and the tank's valve and hose connections were foreign to him, but Jay used a wrench from his belt pocket to disconnect the tank's hose from the vacuum suit. When he unstrapped the tank from the wall, Jay saw a valve, similar to the one on the tank, on the wall beside the suit. Jay hooked the tank's hose to the valve and, after a few tries, got air from it to fill the 2 tanks. Now, Jay had to see if he could jerry-rig the hose to his suit's air connection.

The connection to fill Jay's air tank was on the front of his suit over his chest, and it was larger than the alien tank hose. So, Jay put the end of the hose into the connection and used some tape from his belt pocket to seal the two together. The hose on the alien air tank was not very long, so Jay taped the tank to his belt.

"When I get back to the, Quest, I'll fix up this hose connection a little better." Jay thought as he picked up the extra tank and went over to the control panel to put on his helmet.

Jay went down the spiral stair to the open cubicle and stepped into the air lock. The opening slid shut, and Jay felt the pressure against his suit drop off as the air was pumped out of the air lock. The side of the column slid open, so Jay stepped in and laid the extra tank of air on the floor so he could take hold of the handle with both hands. When Jay pulled on the handle, the curved opening slid shut, and the column began to move downward to the deck below the sphere.

When the column stopped and its side opened, Jay picked up the extra air tank and stepped down onto the deck to walk over to his tether reel.

After Jay hooked up to the tether reel and to the SS band, he called Ground control.

"Ground control, I have found my elixir of life: Air!"

"Roger, Roger," Ground control said, "We were about to give up on hearing from you again, Star. Are you sure you've found enough air to last until we can get a ship up there?"

"Roger, Ground control, I'm sure there's plenty of air to last for quite awhile, now." Jay went on to tell the Ground control crew everything that he had discovered about the alien sphere.

"Roger," Ground control said, "I don't want to alarm you, Star, but the air in that sphere may have contained the germ, or whatever, that killed the alien. However; the telemetry signals we have received on your vital signs, so far, haven't shown any abnormality, but we'll keep a close watch on them."

"You sure know how to make a guy feel good, I just took a sigh of relief because I knew I wasn't going to suffocate to death, and now you say I may die from some alien germ. What a Ground crew you are!"

"Sorry, Star," Ground control said. "but we are doing our best to keep you informed. By the way, we believe we've found the Signet, or what's left of it anyway. Its orbit has been increased, and the Signet is now out beyond the moon, Jobe. The Searcher will pick you up in a few hours, and we're going to send the Phobias out to Jobe to bring back the Signet."

Gobar had two moons, Jabe and Jobe, and Jobe was the moon that was the farthest away from Gobar.

"God, I hope Debbie is still alive!" Jay thought, then he said, "Roger, Ground control. I guess you'll want me to stay locked up in my suit until I land on Gobar?"

"Roger," Ground control said, "From now on, until we say otherwise, you are in quarantine."

"Great!" Jay said grimacing at the thought.

While Jay waited for the Searcher, he explored the other spheres that were within reach of his tether. To go farther, he was told, would be taking an unnecessary risk. In the few spheres that he entered, Jay found that they each contained a skeleton, and the spheres had a full supply of air and power.

Jay took the devices from the belt of one of the skeletons and put them in the pockets on his belt. He wanted something to show that he had been here. Jay then filled the two tanks with air before he left the sphere.

When he hooked up to the SS band, Jay heard from the ship, Searcher, which was floating in space over the partly opened hatch in the outer skin of the alien spaceship.

"Star, this is the Searcher. Are you ready to come out of that there ship?" Bart Stiles asked.

"Is that you, Stiles?"

"Sure is, Star," Bart said, "I'm going to send you the end of a long tether line. Hook yourself to it and I'll pull you out of there."

"Okay, Stiles, but you had better hook a light to the end of the tether line so I can see it."

"Roger, Star," Bart said.

Jay looked into the darkness above and soon saw a bright light that slowly dropped toward the deck he was standing on, but, in a few seconds, the light picked up speed and headed toward the deck.

"Better slow that tether line down, Stiles, or the light will hit the deck too hard!"

"Roger, Star."

The light slowed and then went out of sight behind one of the spheres.

"The tether has stopped reeling out, Star. Can you see where the end of it is?"

"No, I can't. Pull some of it back in, Stiles, until I say to stop."

"Okay, Star."

The light came above the sphere and Jay had Bart to stop pulling in the tether.

"I'm walking out to the end of my tether to see if I can tell where the end of the other tether will come down."

"Roger, Star."

After a few moments Star said, "Okay, Stiles, reel out the tether."

"Roger," Bart said, then, "The tether stopped, Star."

"Roger, Stiles. I've got the light spotted, so I'll unhook from this tether and talk to you later on the other tether's SS band."

"Okay, Star, but don't get lost."

Jay took off his tether reel and unplugged the SS band. Then he began to walk toward the light that lay on the deck a few hundred feet away.

When Jay reached the light, he picked it up and hooked the end of the tether to a D ring on his belt. Then he plugged in the SS band to his suit.

"Can you copy me, Stiles?"

"Roger, Star. Are you ready for me to pull you out?"

"Roger, pull away."

Jay felt the tether pull tight so he took hold of it with both hands, but he wasn't being raised off the deck.

"Star, we have a problem here. The reel is pulling us toward the alien spaceship. We'll have to use the gas jets to hold the Searcher in place. Hang on for a second."

"Roger."

A few seconds later, Star was jerked off the deck and raised very fast into the darkness above him.

"Sorry about that, Star, but I used too much force. I'll stop the Searcher and let the reel pull you the rest of the way in."

Jay was far above the deck and its pull of gravity, so in a few minutes, he was out of the alien spaceship and floated toward the cone shape of the Searcher.

"I'm just about there, Stiles. Set the breaks on that tether reel because my gas jets are about empty. I used most of it getting out of that hole ahead of the fire ball."

"Roger, will do."

Jay used the gas jet to slow him down, but there wasn't enough gas left to stop him. He went past the Searcher and came to a stop with a slight jerk when the tether became tight.

"Reel me in slowly, Stiles. My jets are out of gas, now."

"Roger, Star. Slow and easy it will be."

Bart Stiles was there when the tether pulled Jay up to the air-lock into the Searcher. Bart was hooked to a tether and, using his gas jets, helped Jay to get into the airlock.

After they were both inside the Searcher, and Bart had shed his helmet and gloves, Jay and Bart shook hands and then they hugged each other.

"Damn, but I'm sure glad you're all right, Star."

"I'm damn glad to be all right, Stiles. For a while there, I didn't think I'd ever see anyone from Gobar again. But when I found that air, I knew I'd make it. Even though I might be dying of some alien germ, I won't die out here in space."

Rath Tooms, Bart's partner on the Searcher, floated in and gave Jay a smile. Then she handed him a fresh tank of air.

"Better hook this up and give me that alien tank," Rath said, "Ground control wants to analyze the air in it when we get back to Gobar."

"Thanks, Tooms," Jay said.

After the air tanks were changed, and the alien tank was stored away, all three went into the control cabin to get ready for the trip down to Gobar.

Mean-while, the Phobias, which was on its way out to the moon, Jobe, to pick up the Signet, swung around the moon, Jabe, to gain some extra speed from the moon's gravity. Jan Darter was at the ship's controls, and Kile Hedges sat in the seat beside her.

"Ground control, this is Phobias," Jan said, "We have passed Jabe and are on course toward Jobe."

"Roger," Ground control said, "What is your ETA, Darter?

"Twenty hours," Jan said.

"Roger," Ground control said, "Stiles and Tooms have just picked up Star from the alien spaceship. I thought you might want to know that."

"Thank god," Jan said, "Is he going to be all right?"

"We won't know until we check him out down here, Darter. But his vital signs look good."

"Did you know that Deb and Jay were going to get married after this trip?" Jan asked.

"Yes, I did. I think everyone here at Ground control knew about that."

"Roger, Ground control. I'll sign off for now and check with you in a few hours."

Forty hours had gone by since Jay Star had set off the fire ball that had placed the Signet on a course toward the moon, Jobe.

The Eagle, with Caleb, Caleus and the other 30 members of the Eagle's crew, set in space a few thousand miles away from the small moon, Jobe, and watched as the Phobias approach.

"Looks like there sending a vessel out to check on the small spacecraft," Caleb said to Caleus, "They're going to wonder where there two comrades have gone to."

"I'm sure glad that the two humanoids are going to be all right," Caleus said, "If we hadn't arrived as soon as we did, they would have died."

"I'm just glad we didn't come here shooting to kill after we destroyed that fire ball," Caleb said, "This must be the alien vessel that came through the film of thought a few years ago. You know, the one we couldn't find."

"I remember," Caleus said, "I believe we should place the two humanoids back aboard their spacecraft where they can be found."

"Yes, I believe we should," Caleb agreed.

"Bill," Caleus said by thought-voice, "how are your two patients doing?"

"They are doing just fine, Caleus. I have kept them unconscious since the transfer to their new bodies."

"How did the autopsy turn out?"

"These humanoids are as close to being a human as any humanoid can get? Except for their eight fingers and eight toes, there are no other differences that I can find. Are they going to be with us long?"

"No they won't, Bill. I want you and Gale to take them back to their spacecraft before their friends arrive."

"Okay, Caleus. But some day, in the near future, I sure would like to come back here and study their culture."

"That will be fine, Bill, but for now, we better get them back aboard their spacecraft."

"We'll put them back in their ship right away."

"Okay, Bill."

After Deb March and Luke Spear were placed back in their ship, Caleb drove the Eagle to where there was nothing between it and the alien vessel. Then, he used the GI beam to snatch the alien vessel away from its orbit around the planet, Gobar.

When the alien vessel arrived beside the Eagle, Caleb jumped the two vessels across the galaxy to the planet, Calorn, where the evil alien's vessel could do no more harm to the many many inhabitants of this galaxy.

"Ground control,"Jan Darter said, "this is Phobias. We just passed the moon, Jobe, and are in sight of the Signet, and it looks like it's been ripped apart and buckled in the middle."

"Roger, Darter," Ground control said, "Have you tried to contact Deb March and Luke Spear on the SS band yet?"

"Roger, Ground control," Kile Hedges said, "I've been trying for the last 6 hours, but I haven't had any luck."

"Roger, Hedges," Ground control said, "If they were alive, you would have heard from them by now. Pick up their bodies and seal them in your space-pod; then, you can hook onto the Signet and tow it back to Space Station Glory."

"Roger, Ground control," Jan said.

Jan brought the Phobias within a few feet of the broken cone shape of the Signet and, by using the gas jets, stopped it there.

In the Signet, Deb and Luke had just become conscious of where they were. The last thing they could remember was that fire ball rising toward them out of that crater in the skin of the alien spaceship, and the pain they had when the Signet split apart.

They knew that their vacuum suits had been ripped open, and they had been badly injured, but they couldn't find any cuts in their suits or anything wrong with themselves. The SS band didn't work so they put their helmets together to talk.

"March, are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm all right, Luke, but I can't, for the life of me, figure out why I'm still alive."

"Neither can I, Deb. I know we didn't have our helmets on when that fire ball hit us. How did they get there?"

"I don't know, Luke. Maybe we put them on and just don't remember doing it."

"Could be, Deb. I wonder how Star is doing? The last I remember, he was coming out of that shaft very fast just before we saw that fire ball." Luke unstrapped from his seat and floated over to a rip in the side of the Signet. "Hey, Deb, there's another ship out here! I believe it's the Phobias."

"Maybe they came out to help us," Deb said as she took the strap loose that held her to the seat and floated over beside Luke.

In the Phobias, Jan and Kile saw the two helmets emerge from the ripped open Signet, and Jan said to Ground control:

"They're alive, Ground control, they're both alive!"

"Roger, roger, Darter! That's the best news we've had all day. The bad news is: The alien spaceship has vanished."

"What do you mean, 'vanished'?" Kile asked.

"The alien spaceship vanished off radar and from all telescopes a few minutes ago."

"Is the Searcher all right?" Jan asked.

"The Searcher is docked at Space Station Glory, and Stiles and Tooms are back on Gobar and they are okay. The air that Star got from the alien spaceship had nothing in it that would hurt him, so he's in fine shape too and is resting at SSG."

"That's good!" Jan replied, "We're going out to get March and Spear now, so let us know if the alien spaceship shows up again, okay?"

"Roger, Phobias."

Jan pressed a switch that opened a hatch in the side of the Phobias and unbuckled herself from her seat.

"Hedges, I'll go out and get them. You stand by to help them through this hatch."

"Okay, Darter."

In a few minutes, Jan had brought Luke and Deb from the wrecked Signet and Kile had helped strap the two into the seats aboard the Phobias. After closing the hatch, Jan sat down and began to pressurize the cabin while she maneuvered a net around the remains of the Signet: To tow the ship back to the space station, the Signet had to be secured inside of a large metal net so as not to lose any of its loose parts.

When the cabin pressure in the Phobias reached normal for the people of Gobar, the helmets and vacuum suits that Deb and Luke were wearing, which were, actually, made from the Creator's microorganisms, vanished as if the helmets and suits had never existed at all.

"What the hell---!" Luke shouted, for he had both hands on his helmet to remove it when it vanished.

Jan and Kile glanced back at Luke's shout. And Jan asked, "What's the matter, Luke?"

"My helmet--- my helmet just disappeared!" he replied. Then, as he realized he was naked, he said, "And my vacuum suit has vanished, too!"

"And so has mine!" Deb said.

The inhabitants of Gobar were glad that no one was injured severely or killed while exploring the alien spaceship, but they wondered how it and the vacuum suits could vanish the way they did. However, using the knowledge they will gain from the alien devices, which Jay Star had brought back with him from the alien space ship, they will soon find a way to travel to the stars. And they will find all the answers there.

So, my friends, this is not the end of their story.