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couldn't quite believe what was happening. If he had understood the situation correctly, a teenage girl had just positioned two canisters of nitroglycerin-9, then pulled out the detonator safety pins. Yes, that seemed about the size of it...
    'It's nitro! Everybody get down!' he bellowed, before hurling himself round the corner.
    The explosion shook the entire Docking Bays area and blew the fallen ice and metalwork clean through the entrance. There were clouds of smoke and dust everywhere. Ace jumped up, and peered round the corner at the debris that was scattered all over the Docking Bays. Her face blazed with delight as she surveyed the results of her handiwork.
    'Ace!'

CHAPTER FIVE
    The Ice Passages were now loose and crumbling; the Doctor and Glitz slipped and fell as they picked their way through the ice boulders.
    'Oh, this is definitely out of order,' muttered Glitz, and then yelped as he slipped again. 'Lookout!' he cried, as his legs disappeared from under him. He grabbed at a small shaft of ice protruding from the wall, and for a moment he was able to steady himself. But the loosely packed ice wall quickly gave way under his weight, and slabs of ice fractured away and fell towards him.
    'Glitz!' shouted the Doctor in alarm from further back down the passage.
    As the supporting wall crumbled away, the roof of the passage also began to splinter. Glitz was pinned down by a huge slab of ice that had sheered away from the wall. Sharp, cutting spikes of ice rained down on him, and the weight of the slab of ice crushed his chest. Another large ice shaft collapsed out of the roof, and shattered on the slab of ice.
    As the ferocity of the cave-in began to die down, the Doctor hurried forward to help his companion. There were small cuts on his face and hands, but mostly Glitz had been protected by the huge slab of ice that was pinning him down. A large, razor-sharp shaft of ice, however, was now hanging precariously over him. If it fell, the rogue would never walk away.
    'Glitz - are you all right?'
    Glitz eyed the ice spike hanging over him. 'Er - can I come back to you on that one?' He tried to move, but the slab of ice held him trapped. 'I seem to be stuck.'
    'Hang on.' The Doctor began to heave at the slab of ice. He managed to raise it a couple of centimetres, but as he moved it, its base pressed against the ice wall, which started to crumble again.
    'Look out!' cried Glitz.
    The Doctor flinched as the roof began to slip again and then settled down. The spike of ice had dropped another few centimetres towards Glitz. Glitz looked at it, and then at the Doctor. 'On the whole, I think I'd rather be losing at cards..."
    'Don't worry, Glitz - soon have you out of there... Now, if we can just raise this a few more centimetres...' The Doctor began straining once more at the slab of ice.
    'You're going to do yourself a permanent, if you're not careful,'
    observed Glitz, none too helpfully.
    The Doctor was still straining to lift the huge slab. 'I said... I'd have you... out of there...' The slab slipped slightly, and the walls and roof settled again. The shaft of ice over Glitz dropped a few more centimetres towards him.
    Glitz looked nervously at the Doctor. 'What odds you offering?'
    Dust-covered figures were picking their way cautiously through the smoke and debris in the Upper Docking Bays. Mel poked her head nervously round the corner to look. She carefully picked up the bag of nitro, and went over to Ace. Ace was beaming brightly as she surveyed the chaos. 'That was well wicked!'
    'What's going on?' Belazs's commanding voice rang through the Docking Bays. She had heard the sound of the explosion from several corridors away and had run here to find a scene of complete devastation. 'Who used
    explosives?' she demanded, turning to the guards. The guards turned to look accusingly at Ace. Ace tried her best to look innocent, but the effect was spoiled rather by Mel clutching nervously at several cans of high