Lose
his ship and he'd slip back there--to rot. He was at the snarling stage
that night when he picked out a table for himself and set out to drink
away his troubles.

However, just as the first bottle arrived, so did a visitor. Steena came
out of her corner, Bat curled around her shoulders stole-wise, his
favorite mode of travel. She crossed over and dropped down without
invitation at Cliff's side. That shook him out of his sulks. Because
Steena never chose company when she could be alone. If one of the
man-stones on Ganymede had come stumping in, it wouldn't have made more
of us look out of the corners of our eyes.

She stretched out one long-fingered hand and set aside the bottle he had
ordered and said only one thing, "It's about time for the _Empress of
Mars_ to appear again."

Cliff scowled and bit his lip. He was tough, tough as jet lining--you
have to be granite inside and out to struggle up from Venaport to a ship
command. But we could guess what was running through his mind at that
moment. The _Empress of Mars_ was just about the biggest prize a spacer
could aim for. But in the fifty years she had been following her queer
derelict orbit through space many men had tried to bring her in--and
none had succeeded.

A pleasure-ship carrying untold wealth, she had been mysteriously
abandoned in space by passengers and crew, none of whom had ever been
seen or heard of again. At intervals thereafter she had been sighted,
even boarded. Those who ventured into her either vanished or returned
swiftly without any believable explanation of what they had
seen--wanting only to get away from her as quickly as possible. But the
man who could bring her in--or even strip her clean in space--that man
would win the jackpot.

"All right!" Cliff slammed his fist down on the table. "I'll try even
that!"

Steena looked at him, much as she must have looked at Bat the day Bub
Nelson brought him to her, and nodded. That was all I saw. The rest of
the story came to me in pieces, months later and in another port half
the System away.

Cliff took off that night. He was afraid to risk waiting--with a writ
out that could pull the ship from under him. And it wasn't until he was
in space that he discovered his passengers--Steena and Bat. We'll never
know what happened then. I'm betting that Steena made no explanation at
all. She wouldn't.

It was the first time she had decided to cash in on her own tip and she
was there--that was all