y, too. Space fatigue, the
medic told me just a little while ago. He agrees with me that I should
go back to Earth. I've got to go--to take a look at everything from the
small end, again. Of course I've always had the longing. And now I can
go. It has been a year since the worst of the Syrtis Fever."

"I've had the fever. And sometimes the longing, Frank," she said after
she had studied him for a moment. "I think I'd like to go."

"Only if you want to, Nance. It's me that's flunking out, pal." He
chuckled apologetically, almost lightly. "My part has to be a one-person
deal. I don't know whether I'll ever come back. And you seem to fit, out
here."

She looked at him coolly for almost a minute. "All right, Frank," she
said quietly. "Follow your nose. It's just liable to be right on the
beam--for you. I might follow mine. I don't know."

"Joe and Two-and-Two are around--if you need anything, Nance," he said.
"I'll tell them. Gimp, I hear, is on the way. Not much point in my
waiting for him, though..."

Somehow he loved Nance Codiss as much or more than ever. But how could
he tell her that and make sense? Not much made sense to him anymore. It
seemed that he had to get away from everybody that he had ever seen in
space.

Fifty hours before his departure with a returning bubb caravan that had
brought more Earth-emigrants, Nelsen acquired a travelling companion who
had arrived from Pallastown with a small caravan bringing machinery. The
passenger-hostess brought him to Nelsen's prefab. He was a grave little
guy, five years old. He was solemn, polite, frightened, tall for his
age--funny how corn and kids grew at almost zero-gravity.

The boy handed Nelsen a letter. "From my father and mother, sir," he
said.

Nelsen read the typed missive.

"Dear Frank: The rumor has come that you are going home. You have our
very best wishes, as always. Our son, Davy, is being sent to his
paternal grandmother, now living in Minneapolis. He will go to school
there. He is capable of making the trip without any special attention.
But--a small imposition. If you can manage it, please look in on him
once in a while, on the way. We would appreciate this favor. Thank you,
take care of yourself, and we shall hope to see you somewhere within the
next few months. Your sincere friends, David and Helen Lester."

A lot of nerve, Nelsen thought first. But he tried to grin engagingly at
the kid and almost succeeded.

"We're in luck, Dave," he s