tiny holes scattered
all around her, like droplets of fire. Ships streaked up, one for each
droplet, circling each, spraying fire, until each droplet flared like
a tiny sun.

Yellow Mars, holding closely its two speedy rocks of moons, spun into
the screen.

A straggling line of men moved across a desert that whipped them with
sheets of yellow dust. A single ship dived from out of the Sun,
swooped along the line, licking it with the tongue of flame that
streaked behind. As the ship flashed beyond the horizon, a line of
smoking rag bundles lay still upon the yellow sand.

* * * * *

Darkness closed in upon the television screen in Colonel Halter's
office. In the long moment of silence that followed, he thought, _Oh,
God, after this awful picture, how can I convince them to come out of
the womb of that ship and live again? What reason can I give?_

Immobilizing his face, he saw the half circle of the six old people
again in the control room of the old, old ship.

He said, "You'll set down in approximately twenty minutes."

"Yes," agreed the captain, "from where we jumped into space
seventy-five years ago. The people of Earth were talking about their
problems, not killing each other about them. There was hope. We felt
that by the time we'd finished our mission and come back from that
other solar system, where a healthy colony could be born, most of
those problems would be solved." A pause. "But now there's this
terrible killing all through the System. We won't face it."

The roaring of the rockets now as they plunged flame against the
concrete slab of the landing field. The bug bodies of the tugs gently
easing old _Alpha_ to Earth.

Colonel Halter was saying, "How about this other solar system? You
haven't let us know whether or not you reached it."

"We saw it." There was a hollowness in the captain's voice. "We didn't
reach it. But we will. You'll repair the _Alpha_ and refuel it."

"As you were saying," prompted Colonel Halter, "you didn't reach it."

"A meteor," said the captain. "Straight into our rockets. Our ship
began to drift. The cameras, of course, set in the bulkheads, were
watching us."

"May I see? Anything you have to show or say will be strictly between
us. I've given orders for our communication to be unrecorded and
private. You have my word."

"You'll be allowed to see. I've given my permission."

Colonel Halter thought, _You have given permission?_

The