ldn't leave the ground if I lived a million years."

"Garbage," said Dan Fowler succinctly.

"No, Dan. Not garbage. Unfortunately, we sometimes have to recognize
our dreams as dreams, and look reality right square in the face.
Starship Project is dying. Our whole civilization is dying. Nimrock
drove the first nail into the coffin a hundred and thirty years
ago--lord, if they'd only hanged him when his first rejuvenation
failed! But that would only have delayed it. Now we're dying, slowly
right now, but soon it will be fast, very fast. And do you know who's
getting set to land the death-blow?" He smiled sadly across at his
brother. "You are, Dan."

Dan Fowler sprang from his chair with a roar. "My god, Paul, you're
_sick_! Of all the idiot's delights I ever heard, I--I--oh, Jesus." He
stood shaking, groping for words, staring at his brother.

"You said you wanted me to tell you."

"Tell me! Tell me what?" Dan took a trembling breath, and sat down,
visibly, gripping himself. "All right, all right, I heard what you
said--you must mean something, but I don't know what. Let's be
reasonable. Let's forget philosophy and semantics and concepts and all
the frills for just a minute and talk about facts, huh? _Just facts._"

"All right, facts," said Paul. "Kenneth Armstrong wrote MAN ON MARS in
2028--he was fifty-seven years old then, and he hadn't been
rejuvenated yet. Fundamentally a good book, analyzing his first Mars
Colony, taking it apart right down to the silk undies, to show why it
had failed so miserably, and why the next one could succeed if he
could ever get up there again. He had foresight; with rejuvenation
just getting started, he had a whole flock of ideas about
overpopulation and the need for a Mars Colony--he was all wet on the
population angle, of course, but nobody knew that then. He kicked
Keller and Lijinsky off on the Starship idea. They admit it--it was
MAN ON MARS that first started them thinking. They were both young,
with lots of fight in them. Okay?"

"Just stick to facts," said Dan coldly.

* * * * *

"Okay. Starship Project got started, and blossomed into the people's
Baby. They started work on the basic blueprints about 60 years ago.
Everybody knew it would be a long job--cost money, plenty of it, and
there was so much to do before the building ever began. That was where
I came in, fifteen years ago. Building. They were looking for
engineers who weren't eager