contact shoes. Cigarette in hand
he sank into a heavy chair, touched a button on the arm, then sat back
to watch the telescreen.

It was a rehash of the day's news. In nasal tones a senator was
accusing the Republicrats of raising taxes. Then followed scenes from
a spectacular fire. Suddenly, Bill's drooping eyelids popped open.

[Illustration: _The small meteor ripped through the_ Space Bird's
_crew compartment, blinding the radar scope and severing communication
with Earth_.]

A commentator was saying, "... the two rockets of the Staker Space
Mining Company, ready for a scouting trip to the asteroid Beta
Quadrant."

A close-up of Tom Staker followed. Tall, rangy, with blond hair like
straw in the wind. Bill laid his cigarette in a tray and with critical
interest leaned forward to look at his brother.

"We figure to find uranium," Tom was saying, with a glance toward the
vertical rockets, "all through the Beta Quadrant. Our departure is
waiting on the return of my brother, Bill, from his Mars-to-Earth
run."

A reporter asked Tom, "Private enterprise is unique in these days of
virtual monopolies. What's the story behind it?"

"Well, our great-grandfather, George Staker, believed passionately in
private enterprise," Tom began. "Somewhere around 1952 or 1953 he
established a trust fund for his third generation descendants to
finance any project they think worthwhile. And he got an ironclad
guarantee from the government that the trust fund for private
enterprise would be honored in the future. You see, my ancestor was
quite a romanticist. In one of his books entitled 'The Philosophy of
Science' he says 'People of this dawning Atomic Age little realize
they are living in a vast dream. A dream that is slowly taking
objective shape. A tool here, a part there, a plan on some drafting
table. Men of ideas are pointing the way, structuring the inner dream
world of a generation. Even today's science fiction literature
contains important ideas for the dreams-become-reality of tomorrow.'"
Tom finished up, "With our Project Venture, Bill and I are going to
bring a dream into reality--making a little on the side, of course!"

The commentator ended his interview with: "And so, we await with great
interest the carrying out of George Staker's dream, a man whose
Twentieth Century ideas of private enterprise have blown a breath of
fresh air into an age of dull dreams and little imagination."

Bill Staker pressed the control but