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Thefrom the Ocean Venturer's derrick above, to the heaviest sections of twisted debris While one le, the other man held a small box in his hand-operated e claw When they were satisfied that they had a good, healthy bite, the pincers were closed, and the winch operator on the derrick took over, gently easing the load out of what had come to be known

affectionately as the pit

"At the rate they're going," said Gunn, "we'll be ready to make the final burn over the area of Shields'

stateroom in four days"

"Four days," Pitt said turning over the words slowly "God only knows if we'll still be here-" Suddenly he stiffened and stared at the screens

Gunn looked at hi?"

"How many divers are supposed to be out of the chamber this shift?"

"Four at a time," replied Gunn "Why do you ask?"

"Because I count five"

Gly cursed hi s

uch a foolish risk, but lying under one of the rusting lifeboats he could not observe in any detail the activity taking place down in the hole where the salvage tea with theerous

He noted there was only a slight difference in the style of his thermal exposure suit and theirs The air tanks strapped to his back were of an earlier model, but the color was the same Who would notice a near-lookalike interloper in the murk?

He swaainst so on the deck Before he could figure out his next e crew drifted over and pointed down at the hatch Gly gave an exaggerated nod of his head in understanding, and together the two of them wrestled the heavy steci plate to the bulwarks and heaved it over the side

There were no invisible perils here Gly recognized the threat and kept a wary eye He pitched in with the others as though he had been doing it fro a classic case of thethe least obvious

They were ined The NUMA people were like miners who seemed to know exactly where the ly By his calculation they were re a ton of scrap every three hours