assembly in the ship's large main
lounge. As the men drifted in, Temple was amazed to see the progress
they had made with weightlessness. He himself had advanced to handy
facility in locomotion, but it struck him all the more pointedly when
he saw two hundred men swim and float through air, pushing themselves
along by means of the hand-holds strategically placed along the walls.

The ever-present microphone greeted them all. "Good afternoon, men."

"Good afternoon, mac!"

"Hey, is this the way to Ebbetts' Field?"

"Get on with it!"

"Sounds like the same man who addressed us in White Sands," Temple
told Arkalion. "He sure does get around."

"A recording, probably. Listen."

"Our destination, as you've probably read in newspapers and magazines,
is the planet Mars."

Mutterings in the assembly, not many of surprise.

"Their suppositions, based both on the seven hundred eighty day lapse
between Nowhere Journeys and the romantic position in which the planet
Mars has always been held, are correct. We are going to Mars.

"For most of you, Mars will be a permanent home for many years to
come--"

"Most of us?" Temple wondered out loud.

Arkalion raised a finger to his lips for silence.

"--until such time as you are rotated according to the policy of
rotation set up by the government."

Temple had grown accustomed to the familiar hoots and catcalls. He
almost had an urge to join in himself.

"Interesting," Arkalion pointed out. "Back at White Sands they claimed
not to know our destination. They knew it all right--up to a point.
The planet Mars. But now they say that all of us will not remain on
Mars. Most interesting."

"--further indoctrination in our mission soon after our arrival on the
red planet. Landing will be performed under somewhat less strain than
the initial takeoff in the Earth-to-station ferry, since Mars exerts
less of a gravity pull than Earth. On the other hand, you have been
weightless for three weeks and the change-over is liable to make some
of you sick. It will pass harmlessly enough.

"We realize it is difficult, being taken from your homes without
knowing the nature of your urgent mission. All I can tell you
now--and, as a matter of fact, all I know--"

"Here we go again," said Temple. "More riddles."

"--is that everything _is_ of the utmost urgency. Our entire way of
life is at stake. Our job will be to safeguard it. In the months which
follow, few of you will have any big, sign