med up. Gimp is
set, I know..."

In a few minutes more, Eileen introduced him to a girl. Jennie Harper
had large dark eyes, and a funny, achy sort of voice. Gimp disappeared
discreetly with his date. Frank and Jennie sat at a table in a private
booth, high up in the arches of _The First Stop_, and watched Eileen do
another number.

Jennie explained herself. "I'm another one. I've got to go where the
heroes go. That's me--Frankie, is it? So I'm here..."

She had a perfume. While he was Rodan's prisoner for two and a half
months, there were special things that had driven him almost wild. Now
he made hints, inevitably.

"I don't need Eileen to tell me you're a good guy, Frank," she said with
a small, warm smile. "We're just entertainers. They wouldn't let us be
anything else--here..."

It hardly mattered what else they said. Maybe it was fifteen hours later
that Frank Nelsen found himself walking along a stellene-covered
causeway, looking for Left Foot Gimp Hines. He had memories of a tiny
room, very neat and compact, with even a single huge rose in a vase on
the bed table. But the time had a fierce velvet-softness that tried to
draw him to it forevermore. It was like the grip of home, and the lost
Earth, and the fear that he would chicken out and return.

He found Gimp, who seemed worried. "You might get stuck, here, on
account of Rodan," he said. "Even I might. We'd better go see."

Nelsen had bitter, vengeful thoughts of Rodan being set at liberty--with
himself the culprit.

The official at the police building was an American--a gruff one, but
human. "I got the dope from the girl, Nelsen," he said. "And from
Lester. You're lucky. Rodan confessed to a murder--another
employee--just before he hired you. Apparently just before he made his
discovery. He was afraid that the kid would try to horn in. Oh, he's not
insane--not enough to escape punishment, anyhow. Here the official means
of execution is simple exposure to the vacuum. Now, if you want to leave
Serene, you'd better do so soon, before somebody decides to subpoena you
as a witness..."

Frank felt a humbled wonder. Was Rodan really accountable, or was it the
Moon and space, working on people's emotions?

Leaving the building, Frank and Gimp found Dave Lester and Helen Rodan
entering. They talked for a moment. Then Lester said:

"Helen's had lots of trouble. And we're in love. What do we do, guys?"

"Dunno--get married?" Nelsen answered, shrugging. "It