s running from the open air-lock of
the ship. In uniform, some of them--government officials of Earth and
Mars. Damn them, it was a trap!

Knowing vaguely that they had surrounded him, he let Fuller slip from
his shoulders and lowered him gently to the snow. Lurching to his feet,
he stood swaying above the scientist's body, ready to defend the
helpless man against any who came to take him. Defiant curses died in
his paralyzed throat as darkness swooped down to blot out all
consciousness. His steel-sinewed body, beaten at last, slumped
protectingly over the lanky form of his new-found friend.

* * * * *

When Luke next saw the light he stared long and hard at immaculate white
walls and ceiling that shut him in. A gentle purring was in his ears and
he knew he was in an ethership that was under way. He lay weak and
helpless beneath snowy covers, on an iron hospital bed.

There were voices in the room, hushed, awed voices, and Luke moved his
head painfully to stare across the room. Fuller, he saw, was stretched
on another cot, pale and still. And a white-clad nurse was there,
bending over him, talking softly to a doctor. The words that passed
between them brought enlightenment to Luke--and more. They brought a new
elation, and understanding, and hope.

When the doctor and nurse had left, Luke lay for a long time with his
thoughts. There was a man--Tom Fuller. Unafraid, as an agent of a
special governmental committee investigating prison conditions he had
volunteered to get the evidence on Vulcan's Workshop. And he had done
it, even though it was almost certain that his own life was to be the
price. He had dared the misery and hardship, dared X.C. and the
horrible death it brought, that this hellhole of Vulcan might be
exposed, that it might be wiped out of existence by government
agreement. Vulcan's Workshop, where the gold dust of a certain political
clique, brought torture and disease and extinction to hapless prisoners
who might otherwise be remade into useful members of society by the use
of scientific methods--all this was to be no more.

Fuller had succeeded where many others had failed. And Fuller was not to
die. Only one of his lungs had been affected by X.C. and this not too
extensively to respond to treatment. Many months of careful attendance
would be required, and many more months of convalescence. But Fuller,
they were sure, would live, Luke gloated.

From what h