a bow. "A flawless performance. One of your very best,
Antoinette."

"Do you think so?" sighed Anti. The frost had melted from her eyebrows
and was trickling down her cheek. She left with Jordan.

Cameron remained behind. He felt his jaw. It was too bad about his
ambitions. He knew now that he was never going to be the spectacular
success he had once imagined. Not after these accidentals had escaped
from Handicap Haven. Still, he would always be able to practice
medicine somewhere in the Solar System. He'd done his best on the
asteroid and this ship, and he'd been a complete ass both times.

The ballerina hadn't really died, as he had been told. It would have
been better for her if she had. He succeeded in recalling her name. It
had been Antoinette.

Now it was Anti. He could have found that out by checking her case
history--_if_ Handicap Haven had one on file. Probably not, he
comforted himself. Why keep case histories of hopeless cases?

* * * * *

"We'll stick to the regular lanes," said Docchi. "I think we'll get
closer. They have no reason to suspect that we're heading toward
Earth. Mars is more logical, or one of the moons of Jupiter, or
another asteroid."

Jordan shifted uneasily. "I'm not in favor of it. They'll pick us up
before we have a chance to say anything."

"But there's nothing to distinguish us from an ordinary Earth-to-Mars
rocket. We have a ship's registry on board. Pick out a ship that's in
our class. Hereafter, we're going to be that ship. If Traffic blips
us, and they probably won't unless we try to land, have a recording
ready. Something like this: 'ME 21 zip crackle 9 reporting. Our
communication is acting up. We can't hear you, Traffic.' Don't overdo
the static effects but repeat that with suitable variations and I
don't think they will bother us."

Shaking his head dubiously, Jordan swung away toward the repair shops.

"You look worried," said Anti.

Docchi turned around. "Yeah."

"Won't it work?"

"Sure. We'll get close to Earth. They're not looking for us around
here. They don't really know why we escaped in the rocket. That's why
they can't figure out where we're going."

His face was taut and his eyes were tired. "It's not that. The entire
Solar Police Force has been alerted for us."

"Which means?"

"Look. We planned to bypass the Medicouncil and take our case directly
to the Solar Government. If they want us as much as the radio
indica