a caricature of a human. Although he was human, of
course. As human as any of them.

Rip saw that other Martians were in the air lock, all carrying cases of
various sizes and shapes. They came through into the control room and put
them down, then turned without a word and hurried back into the lock. They
were all breathing heavily, Rip noticed. Of course! The artificial
atmosphere inside the space ship must seem very heavy and moist to them
after the thin, dry air of Mars.

The lock worked and the Martians were replaced by others. They, too,
deposited their cases. But these cases were bigger and heavier. It took
four Martians to carry one, which meant they weighed close to half a ton
each. The Martians could carry more than double an earthman's capacity.

When the lock worked next time, a Planeteer captain came in. He breathed
the heavy air appreciatively, fingering the oxygen mask he had to wear
outside. He saluted Commander O'Brine and reported, "This is all, sir. We
filled the order exactly as Terra sent it. Is there anything else you
need?"

O'Brine turned to his deputy. "Find out," he ordered. "This is our last
chance. We have plenty of basic supplies, but we may be short of
audio-mags and other things for the men." He turned his back on the
Planeteer captain and walked away.

The captain grinned at O'Brine's retreating back, then walked over to Rip.
They shook hands.

"I'm Southwick, SOS Two. Canadian."

Rip introduced himself and said he was an American. He added, "And aside
from my men, you're the first human being I've seen since we made space."

Southwick chuckled. "Trouble with the spacemen? Well, you're not the
first."

Talking about assignments wasn't considered good practice, but Rip was
burning with curiosity. "You don't by chance know what my assignment is,
do you?"

The captain's eyebrows went up. "Don't you?"

Rip shook his head. "O'Brine hasn't told me."

"I don't know a thing," Southwick said. "We got instructions to pack up a
pretty strange assortment of supplies for the _Scorpius_ and that's all I
know. The order was in special cipher, though, so we're all wondering
about it."

The deputy commander returned, reported to O'Brine, then walked up to Rip
and Southwick. "Nothing else needed," he said curtly. "We'll get off at
once."

Southwick nodded, shook hands with Rip, and said in a voice the deputy
could hear, "Don't let these spacemen bother you. Trouble with them is,
they all