ifty by then.

That's what's on his mind, Alan thought. He lost Steve forever--but he
doesn't want any more Steves to happen. The Contraction took one of his
sons away. And now he wants the hyperdrive as much as I do.

Alan glanced at the stiff, erect figure of his father as they clambered
out of the copter and headed at a fast clip toward the Administration
Building of the Enclave. He wondered just how much pain and anguish his
father was keeping hidden back of that brisk, efficient exterior.

_I'll get the Cavour drive someday_, Alan thought suddenly. _And I'll be
getting it for him as well as me._

The bizarre buildings of the Enclave loomed up before him. Behind them,
just visible in the purplish twilight haze, were the tips of the shining
towers of the Earther city outside. Somewhere out there, probably, was
Steve.

_I'll find him too_, Alan thought firmly.

* * * * *

Most of the _Valhalla's_ people had already been assigned rooms in the
quarantine section of one of the Enclave buildings when Alan and his
father arrived.

The bored-looking desk clerk--a withered-looking oldster who was
probably a retired Starman--gave Alan his room number. It turned out to
be a small, squarish room furnished with an immense old pneumochair long
since deflated, a cot, and a washstand. The wall was a dull green, with
gaping cracks in the faded paint, and cut heavily with a penknife into
one wall was the inscription, BILL DANSERT SLEPT HERE, _June 28 2683_ in
sturdy block letters.

Alan wondered how many other starmen had occupied the room before and
after Bill Dansert. He wondered whether perhaps Bill Dansert himself
were still alive somewhere between the stars, twelve centuries after he
had left his name in the wall.

He dropped himself into the pneumochair, feeling the soggy squish of the
deflated cushion, and loosened the jacket of his uniform.

"It's not luxurious," he told Rat. "But at least it's a room. It's a
place to stay."

The medics started coming around that evening, checking to see that none
of the newly-arrived starmen had happened to bring back any strange
disease that might cause trouble. It was slow work--and the _Valhalla_
people were told that it would take at least until the following morning
before the quarantine could be lifted.

"Just a precautionary measure," said the medic apologetically as he
entered Alan's room clad in a space helmet. "We really learned our
l