y own
life."

"You can't buy your way out of working, mister--"

* * * * *

"Don't give me that! You'll sing a different tune when I tell you how
much is in this bag. All you have to do is quote a figure--and it's
yours!"

"Sorry, Mr. Monk," said the captain tersely.

"What do you mean by _sorry_?"

"I'm on a lifetime assignment here, and so are practically all the
members of the Colony. It's a job that can barely be completed in a
lifetime. And the economy we operate under doesn't call for money.
Your dollars are so much excess baggage on Mars."

"What are you talking about?" Monk rasped. "I'm offering you a
fortune. Money is money, you fool!"

"You can paper the walls of your quarters with it," said the officer
sharply. "See if it helps keep out the Martian cold. That's about all
the usefulness it has up here."

Wildly, Fletcher Monk unlocked the bag and dipped inside. His hand
came out with a fistfull of green bills. "Look!" he cried. "I'm not
joking about this! Look at it! Doesn't the sight of it mean anything
to you?"

"It brings back some memories," said the captain smiling. "That's
about all. Now you better go back to the desk and get your quarantine
instructions."

He saluted the industrialist casually, and turned away.

"Okay, Mr. Moneybags," said the young official as the captain left.
"Let's get acquainted."

* * * * *

A year later, Captain Harlan Moore presided at the dedication of the
first fully-equipped hospital erected on the planet Mars. It was an
impressive affair, despite the fact that it took place in a small,
crowded chamber, and that the attending assemblage were still begrimed
by their day's work.

When the ceremonies were completed, Captain Moore made an inspection
of the new medical center, and one of his first stops was the bed-side
of Fletcher Monk.

"We knew he wasn't a well man," said the young physician who stood by
the bed, taking Monk's pulse. He watched as the captain picked up the
chart hooked to the edge of the bed.

"Yes," said Moore. "He was a very sick man when he first came to the
Colony. In more ways than one," he added.

The doctor looked perplexed. "But this illness still surprises me," he
said. "I've examined him almost monthly for the past year, and
frankly, I would have bet on his survival. He began to improve
rapidly--physically, anyway. It might have been the lesser gravity, or
the hea