at him. Finally, one of them came forward.
"Greetings, sir," he began, "I'm Bright River, your Third Officer. Red
Moon, the Second, is down with Doctor Bay. The Engineer, Long Spear, is
detained in engineering. This is the Second Engineer, Grey Dawn."
60 "Are these other men waiting to be evacuated?" asked Morn.
61 "No, sir," explained Grey Dawn, "they're Engineers, sir. They
figured you might need some help in that line, so they volunteered to
stay."
62 "All right," agreed Morn, "I may need some engineering help."
63 At that moment a rather haggard-looking Officer came through the
hatch. When he saw Morn he came to attention and saluted. Morn returned
the salute. "Welcome aboard, sir," he said. "I'm your Number Two. Have
you taken command?"
64 "No," answered Morn, "but I'd better. " He quickly did so, then
looked about him. "May I ask, gentlemen, when was the last time you got
any sleep?"
65 "I think about two days ago," said the Number Two.
66 "About a day and a half," explained the Number Three.
67 "I had a couple of hour's nap," remarked the Second Engineer,
68 "Then you stay," said Morn, "and give me a report on everything that
has happened. You two," he said to the Number Two and Three, "go get
some sleep. I'll call you when I need you. That's an order! You'll do
me no good if you collapse."
69 "Yes," the two men acknowledged, reluctantly, and headed for their
quarters. The Second Engineer informed Morn that the disease was still
contained to the cargo pod and the engineering section. There was no
trace of anything getting through the sterile shields between the
sections. Two men had volunteered to stay on board, and were guarding