, have you?" retorted Jonner,
with a rueful smile.

Baat pulled at his jowls.

"The _Marsward_ isn't carrying G-boats," he said regretfully. "They all
belong to the port, and Marscorp's got them so tied up you'll never get
a sniff of one. But if you want to get back to your ship, Jonner, I can
take you up to Phobos with me, as my guest."

Jonner shook his head.

"I figure on taking the _Radiant Hope_ back to Earth," he said. "But I'm
not blasting off without cargo until it's too late for me to beat you on
the run."

"You sure? This'll be my last ferry trip. The _Marsward_ blasts off for
Earth at 0300 tomorrow."

"No, thanks, Russo. But I will appreciate your taking my ship's doctor,
Dr. Elden, up to Phobos."

"Done!" agreed Baat. "Let's go, Dr. Elden. The G-boat leaves Marsport in
two hours."

Jonner watched Baat puff away, with the slender, white-clad brunette at
his side. Baat personally would see Lana Elden safely aboard the
_Radiant Hope_, even if it delayed his own blastoff.

Morosely, he left the hearing room with Deveet.

"What I can't understand," said the latter, "is why all this dirty work,
why didn't Marscorp just use one of their atom-drive ships for the
competition run?"

"Because whatever ship is used on a competition run has to be kept in
service on the franchised run," answered Jonner. "Marscorp has millions
tied up in hydrazine interests, and they're more interested in keeping
an atomic ship off this run than they are in a monopoly franchise. But
they tie in together: if Marscorp loses the monopoly franchise and
Atom-Star puts in atom-drive ships, Marscorp will have to switch to
atom-drive to meet the competition."

"If we had a franchise, we could force Space Fuels to sell us
hydrazine," said Deveet unhappily.

"Well, we don't. And, at this rate, we'll never get one."

* * * * *

Jonner and Deveet were fishing at the Mars City Recreation Center. It
had been several weeks since the _Marsward XVIII_ blasted off to Earth
with a full cargo. And still the atomic ship _Radiant Hope_ rested on
Phobos with most of her Marsbound cargo still aboard; and still her crew
languished at the Phobos space station; and still Jonner moved back and
forth between Mars City and Marsport daily, racking his brain for a
solution that would not come.

"How in space do you get twenty tons of cargo up to an orbit 5,800 miles
out, without any rocket fuel?" he demanded of Deveet