ck.
They were all breathing heavily, Rip noticed. Of course! The artificial
atmosphere inside the spaceship must seem very heavy and moist to them,
after the thin, dry air of Mars.

The lock worked, and the Martians were replaced by others. They, too,
deposited their cases. But these cases were bigger and heavier. It took
four Martians to carry one, which meant they weighed close to half a ton
each. The Martians could carry more than double an earthman's capacity.

When the lock worked next time, a Planeteer captain came in. He breathed
the heavy air appreciatively, fingering the oxygen mask he had to wear
outside. He saluted Commander O'Brine and reported, "This is all, sir. We
filled the order exactly as Terra sent it. Is there anything else you
need?"

O'Brine turned to his deputy. "Find out," he ordered. "This is our last
chance. We have plenty of basic supplies, but we may be short of
audio-mags and other things for the men." He turned his back on the
Planeteer captain and walked away.

The captain grinned at O'Brine's retreating back, then walked over to
Rip. They shook hands.

"I'm Southwick, SOS Two. Canadian."

Rip introduced himself and said he was an American. He added, "And aside
from my men, you're the first human being I've seen since we made space."

Southwick chuckled. "Trouble with the spacemen? Well, you're not the
first."

Talking about assignments wasn't considered good practice, but Rip was
burning with curiosity. "You don't by chance know what my assignment
is, do you?"

The captain's eyebrows went up. "Don't you?"

Rip shook his head. "O'Brine hasn't told me."

"I don't know a thing," Southwick said. "We got instructions to pack up a
pretty strange assortment of supplies for the _Scorpius_, and that's all
I know. The order was in special cipher, though, so we're all wondering
about it."

The deputy commander returned, reported to O'Brine, then walked up to Rip
and Southwick. "Nothing else needed," he said curtly. "We'll get off at
once."

Southwick nodded, shook hands with Rip, and said in a voice the deputy
could hear, "Don't let these spacemen bother you. Trouble with them is
they all wanted to be Planeteers and couldn't pass the intelligence
tests." He winked, then hurried to the air lock.

Spacemen worked quickly to clear the deck of the new supplies, stowing
them in a nearby workroom. Within five minutes the engine control room
was clear. The safety officer signaled, and th