Virdon, Burke and Galen see a glowing fireball in the night sky and recognise it as another spacecraft. They hurry towards the crash site but find they have been beaten there by a gorilla patrol. After scaring away the gorillas, they discover astronaut Verina, an old flame of Pete's. Inside the ship Alan finds her two colleagues dead. He realises the ship will be able to fly again but only with one passanger, and it should be the lightest of the three astronauts. With the gorillas regrouping and returning, Verina has to quickly take off again, with the promise to get a rescue ship to return for her friends.