You've been out--how long?" Carr hesitated.

"Eighty Martian days. Seen plenty too." He waved his arm in a gesture
that seemed to take in the entire universe.

"Why come here, with so much to be seen out there?"

"Came to visit you, old stick-in-the-mud," grinned Mado, "and to try
and persuade you to join me. I find you footloose already. You're
itching for adventure; excitement. Will you come?"

Carr listened spellbound. "Right now?" he asked.

"This very minute. Come on."

"My bag," objected Carr, "it must be packed. I'll need funds too."

"Bag! What for? Plenty of duds on the _Nomad_--for any old climate.
And money--don't make me laugh! Vagabonds need money?" He backed
toward the open manhole of the _Nomad_, still grinning.

Carr hesitated, resisting the impulse to take Mado at his word. He
looked around. The landing stage had been deserted, but people now
were approaching. People not to be tolerated at the moment. He saw
Courtney Davis, grim and determined. There'd be more arguments,
useless but aggravating. Well, why not go? He'd decided to break away.
What better chance? Suddenly he dived for the manhole of Mado's
vessel; wriggled his way to the padded interior of the air-lock. He
heard the clang of the circular cover. Mado was clamping it to its
gasketed seat.

"Let's go!" he shouted.

CHAPTER II

_Into the Heavens_

The directors of International Airways stared foolishly when they saw
Carr Parker and the giant Martian enter the mysterious ship which was
a trespasser on their landing stage. They gazed incredulously as the
gleaming torpedo-shaped vessel arose majestically from its position.
There was no evidence of motive power other than a sudden radiation
from its hull plates of faintly crackling streamers of silvery light.
They fell back in alarm as it pointed its nose skyward and accelerated
with incredible rapidity, the silver energy bathing them in its
blinding luminescence. They burst forth in excited recrimination when
it vanished into the blue. Courtney Davis shook his fist after the
departing vessel and swore mightily.

Carr Parker forgot them entirely when he clambered into the bucket
seat beside Mado, who sat at the Nomad's controls. He was free at
last: free to probe the mysteries of outer space, to roam the skies
with this Martian he had admired since boyhood.

"Glad you came?" Mado asked his Terrestrial friend.

"You bet. But tell me about yourself. How you've been and how come