lynched?" Lilac warned him.
"Over a--on account of _you_?"
"Shut up, Howlet!" I interrupted. "Let me talk to the lady alone!"
He must have understood my tone; he let Meadows pull him away a fewsteps.
"And less of the 'lady' business outa _you_," said Lilac, but lowenough to keep it private. "We both know Mars, so let's take thingsthe way they are."
"That's why I came, Lilac. Taking things that way means he has to go."
"What're you gonna say? He has a job to do, or some such canal dust?"
"Not exactly. They might pick up another third pilot. They mightmanage somehow without any. But he won't like himself much, later, formissing his chance."
She swung the edge of the door back and forth in impatient littlejerks. Finally, she took her hand off the latch and let it roll free.She still blocked the opening, however, and I waited.
"Look, Tony," she said after a pause, "what makes you think I couldn'tsettle down with him? I never figured to be an ... entertainer ... allmy life. With the stake I already got together, we could startsomething. A mine, maybe, or a tractor service like yours. Mars isgrowing--"
"Pull your head inside the dome and breathe right!" I snapped at her."I don't mind your dreaming, Lilac, but there isn't any more time."
It was light enough now to see her stiffen. She glared at me.
"You tryin' to say I couldn't make a home here? You know better, Tony.Some of the best known women on Mars didn't exactly come herefirst-class!"
I held up my hand. She was beginning to get loud.
"It wouldn't matter if you were a princess. It's not what he'd thinkof you; it's what he'd wonder about himself, piloting a sand-buggyinstead of a rocket."
In the alley, one of the spacers shuffled his feet impatiently. Ihurried on, hoping to clinch it before she turned stubborn.
"_You_, at least, ought to understand men better than most, Lilac.Maybe it doesn't make sense, but it would be smarter to grab him afterhe's had his share of space instead of before."
It was hard to breathe without sounding loud in the stillness. Just asI had to swallow or choke, Lilac's shoulders slumped an inch or two.
"I'll wake him up," she said in a tired voice.
Feeling as if I had struck her, I stepped back into the alley. A fewminutes later, Konnel slipped out and shut the door behind him. No onesaid a word. From the set of his shoulders, it seemed that he might bejust as glad the alley was dim; but he simply trailed along behind.
* * * * *
We walked back to Number Four Airlock in a silence that had mecounting the footsteps. When we reached the tractor parking lot, Icleared my throat.
"Wait a minute. I'll warm up my sand-saucer and give you a lift toyour ship."
"Maybe we won't need to impose on you any more, Tony," said Howlet."Looks like those machines over there are going out."
I followed his gesture and, by luck, caught the eye of a driver Iknew. I waved and jerked my thumb at the spacers beside me.
"Let's go!" said Howlet as the tractor slowed. "Thanks for everything,Tony. Get yourself some sleep; the night watches in these domes arerough."
Konnel waited until they were a few steps away. Even then, hehesitated.
"Forget it!" I said. "You aren't the first spacer they had to pump outof some odd corner. Look me up when you get back!"
He shook hands and trotted after his friends. They scrambled up theladder to the cab. The tractor picked up speed, lumbering into theairlock.
Later, a little after noon, I crawled out of bed and watched the flareof their pipes as the ship streaked up into the dark Martian sky. Ihoped they would make it--almost as much as I wished it could havebeen me.
Well, I still come out to the wall of whatever dome I find myself in,to watch the sky a while--not that I'll see _those_ boys coming downat this late date! They must have splattered to a puddle on Jupiter,or slipped back into the sun, or taken up a cold, dark orbit out wherethey'll never bother anyone. Nobody will ever know for sure, Isuppose.
If I had it to do over again?
No, of course I don't feel funny about it. If they weren't the ones,it would have been another crew. By the law of averages, a certainnumber of bad tries seems to go with every new push out into space.Maybe there's no reason it has to be like that, but it always has.When the bad luck is used up, someone makes a new frontier.
Why say "superstition"? Each new orbit out from the sun has costplenty in money, ships, and lives; it's the admission price.
Sure, it was too bad about Konnel and his little girl--who, by theway, later married a very important man in Asaph Dome. It would havebeen nice to see Meadows wind up rich, or for Howlet to become mayorof the dome, but what could I do? Which one should I have talked intostaying for the sake of love or money or power, without even beingable to go in his place?
Every time Man pushes ahead a little, a percentage of the pushers paythe fare. Still, it will be healthier if we push out of this planetarysystem before someone else pushes in.
For all we know, they may be on the way.
THE END
* * * * *
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