tten the energizing
switch."

* * * * *

Carr laughed as he fumbled with a mechanism that was strapped to the
Martian's back. Mado, who tipped the scales at over two hundred pounds
on his own planet, weighed nearly six hundred here. His legs simply
couldn't carry the load!

"There you are, old man." Parker had located the switch and a musical
purr came from the black box between the Martian's broad shoulders.
"Now stand up and tell me what you're doing here. And what's the idea
of the private ship? Come all the way from home in it?"

His friend struggled to his feet with an effort, for the field
emanating from the black box required a few seconds to reach the
intensity necessary to counteract two-thirds of the earth's gravity.

"Thanks Carr," he grinned. "Yes, I came all the way in that bus.
Alone, too--and she's mine! What do you think of her?"

"A peach, from what I can see. But how come? Not using a private
space-flier on your business trips, are you?"

"Not on your life! I've retired. Going to play around for a few years.
That's why I bought the Nomad."

"Retired! Why Mado, I just did the same thing."

"Great stuff! They've worked you to death. What are you figuring on
doing with yourself?"

Carr shrugged his shoulders resignedly. "Usual thing, I suppose.
Travel aimlessly, and bore myself into old age. Nothing else to do. No
kick out of life these days at all, Mado, even in chasing around from
planet to planet. They're all the same."

* * * * *

The Martian looked keenly at his friend. "Oh, is that so?" he said.
"No kick, eh? Well, let me tell you, Carr Parker, you come with me and
we'll find something you'll get a kick out of. Ever seen the Sargasso
Sea of the solar system? Ever been on one of the asteroids? Ever seen
the other side of the Moon--Uranus--Neptune--Planet 9, the farthest
out from the sun?"

"No-o." Carr's eyes brightened somewhat.

"Then you haven't seen anything or been anywhere. Trouble with you is
you've been in the rut too long. Thinking there's nothing left in the
universe but the commonplace. Right, too, if you stick to the regular
routes of travel. But the _Nomad's_ different. I'm just a rover when
I'm at her controls, a vagabond in space--free as the ether that
surrounds her air-tight hull. And, take it from me, there's something
to see and do out there in space. Off the usual lanes, perhaps, but
it's there."

"