break away from Rodan..."

Then he was telling the whole story.

"Yes, I was there," Gimp said at the end. "I missed you on the first
pass, prospected for a couple of Earth-days, found a small copper
deposit. High ground gave me a good position to receive short-wave
messages--thought I heard your voices a couple of times. So I doubled
back, and located what is left of Rodan's camp, and yours and Les'
initialed blastoff drums, which I've brought along in my trailer. Lucky
a trader needs an atom-powered tractor that can move at night. I
followed your tracks, though going through rough country, you were
screened from my radio calls until I was almost on you. Though on my
first pass, when you were still in camp, I guess I could have reached
you by bouncing a beam off a mountain top, had I known... Well, it
doesn't matter, now. I'm out of stock, again, and full of money--got to
head back to Serene... You were trying for the Tovie station, eh?"

"What else could we do?"

"I see what you mean, Frank. If you could have made it, and missed
getting shot by some trigger-happy guard--where a frontier isn't even
supposed to exist--they probably would have held you for a while, and
then let you go."

"About the rest of the Bunch?" Frank Nelsen prompted.

"The Kuzaks got to the Belt okay--though they had to fight off some
rough and humorous characters. Storey reached his Mars. Charlie Reynolds
and Two-and-Two got to Venus, and hooked up with the exploring
expedition. Tiflin? Who knows?"

"Ramos?"

"Ah--a real disappointing case, Frank. Darn wild idiot who ought to be
probing the farther reaches of the solar system, got himself a job in a
chemical plant in Serene. A synthesizing retort exploded. He was burned
pretty bad. Just out of the hospital when I last left. It was on account
of a woman that he was on the Moon at all."

"Eileen, the Queen of Serene? Gimp!--is _that_ so, too?"

"Yep--sort of. Our Eileen. Back in Jarviston, Ramos found out that she
was there. She's a good kid. Even admits that she hasn't got much
competition, on a mostly--yet--masculine world... Well, I guess we start
rolling, eh? I didn't want to jolt any of you poor sick people, so I
camped. Let's get you all into Archers, for which I have a few spare
parts left. Then, after we roll up this sealed, air-conditioned tent of
a familiar material, we can be on our way."

"Just let's watch Rodan--that's all," Frank Nelsen warned.

"Sure--we'll keep him g