"You heard me the first time."

Jim took a deep breath. "Well, all I've got to say is: if you hadn't had your face buried in your food the whole time and had looked around you occasionally, you'd see more. How in-"

"Forget it, forget it," Frank interrupted, "before you get me sore. There were six Martians, if you like it that way. Let's get on up and outside and see what the score is. We're wasting time."

"Well, all right." They started up the ramps. Jim was very silent; the incident bothered him more than it did Frank.

Partway up they were forced to adjust their masks. Ten minutes or so thereafter they reached a room into which the sunlight came flooding; they hurried through it and outdoors.

A moment later it was Frank's turn to be puzzled and uncertain. "Jim, I know I was light-headed at the time but wasn't, uh-wasn't that town we started from just a onetower burg?"

"It was."

"This one isn't."

"No, it isn't."

"We're lost."

"That's right."

CHAPTER NINE

Politics

TTffiy WERE IN a large enclosed courtyard, such as characterizes many Martian buildings. They could make out the tops of the towers of the city, or some of them, but their view was much restricted.

"What do you think we ought to do?" asked Frank.

"Mmm... try to find a native and see if we can find out where we've landed. I wish I hadn't let the old fellow get away from us," Jim added. "He spoke Basic."

"You still harping on that?" said Frank. "Anyway I don't think our chances are good; this place looks utterly deserted. You know what I think? I think they've just dumped us."

" 'I think they've just dumped us,'" agreed Willis.

"Shut up. They wouldn't do that," Jim went on to Frank in worried tones. He moved around and stared over the roof of the building. "Say, Frank-"

"Yeah?"

"You see those three little towers, just alike? You can just make out their tips."

"Yeah? What about them?"

"I think I've seen them before."

"Say, I think I have, too!"

They began to run. Five minutes later they were standing on the city wall and there was no longer any doubt about it; they were in the deserted part of Charax. Below them and about three miles away were the bubble domes of South Colony.

Forty minutes of brisk walking, varied with dog-trotting, got them home.

They split up and went directly to their respective homes. "See you later!" Jim called to Frank and hurried away to his father's house. It seemed to take forever for the pressure lock to let him through. Before the presssure had equalized he could hear his mother, echoed by his sister, inquiring via the announcing speaker as to who was at the door, please?-he decided not to answer but to surprise them.

Then he was inside, facing Phyllis whose face was frozen in amazement-only to throw herself around his neck while shouting, "Mother! Mother! Mother! It's Jim! It's Jim!" and Willis was bouncing around the floor and chorusing "It's Jim! It's Jim!" and his mother was crowding Phyl aside and hugging him and getting his face wet with her tears and Jim himself wasn't feeling any too steady.

He managed to push them away presently. His mother stood back a little and said, "Just let me look at you, darling. Oh, my poor baby! Are you all right?" She was ready to weep again.

"Sure, I'm all right," Jim protested. "Why shouldn't I be? Say, is Dad home?"

Mrs. Marlowe looked suddenly apprehensive. "No, Jim, he's at work."

"I've got to see him right away. Say, Mom, what are you looking funny about?"

"Why, becauseUh, nothing. I'll call your father right away." She went to the phone and called the ecological laboratory. He could hear her guarded tones: "Mr. Marlowe? Dear, this is Jane. Could you come home right away?" and his father's reply, "It wouldn't be convenient. What's up? You sound strange."

His mother glanced over her shoulder at Jim, "Are you alone? Can I be overheard?" His father answered, "What's the matter? Tell me." His mother replied, almost in a whisper, "He's home."

There was a short silence. His father answered, "I'll be there right away."

In the meantime Phyllis was grilling Jim. "Say, Jimmy, what in the world have you been doing?"

Jim started to answer, thought better of it. "Kid, you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"I don't doubt that. But what have you been doing? You've sure got folks in a stew."

"Never mind. Say, what day is it?"

"Saturday."

"Saturday the what?"

"Saturday the fourteenth of Ceres, of course."

Jim was startled. Pour days? Only four days since he had left Syrds Minor? Then as he reviewed it in his mind, he accepted it. Granting Frank's assertion that the time he had spent down under Cynia was only three hours or so, the rest added up. "Gee! I guess I'm in time then."

"What do you mean, 'in time'?"

"Huh? Oh, you wouldn't understand it. Wait a few years."

"Smarty!"

Mrs. Marlowe came away from the phone. "Your father will be right home, Jim."

"So I heard. Good."

She looked at him. "Are you hungry? Is there anything you would like?"

"Sure, fatted calf and champagne. I'm not really hungry, but I could stand something. How about some cocoa? I've been living on cold stuff out of cans for days."

"Cocoa there shall be."

"Better eat what you can now," put in Phyllis. "Maybe you won't get what you want to eat when-"

"Phyllis!"

"But, Mother, I was just going to say that-"

"Phyllis-keep quiet or leave the room."

Jim's sister subsided with muttering. Shortly the cocoa was ready and while Jim was drinking it his father came in. His father shook hands with him soberly as if he were a grown man. "It's good to see you home. Son."

"It feels mighty good to be home. Dad." Jim gulped the rest of the cocoa. "But look. Dad, I've got a lot to tell you and there isn't any time to waste. Where's Willis?" He looked around. "Anybody see where he went?"

"Never mind Willis. I want to know-"

"But Willis is essential to this. Dad. Oh, Willis! Come here!" Willis came waddling out of the passageway; Jim picked him up.

"All right; you've got Willis," Mr. Marlowe said. "Now pay attention. What is this mess you are in, son?"

Jim frowned. "It's a little hard to know where to start."

"There's a warrant out for you and Frank!" blurted out Phyllis.

Mr. Marlowe said, "Jane, will you please try to keep your daughter quiet?"

"Phyllis, you heard what I said before!"

"Aw, Mother, everybody knows it!"

"Possibly Jim did not know it."

Jim said, "Oh, I guess I did. They had cops chasing us all the way home."

"Frank came with you?" asked his father.

"Oh, sure! But we gave 'em the slip. Those Company cops are stupid."

Mr. Marlowe frowned. "See here, Jim-I'm going to call up the Resident and tell him you are here. But I'm not going to let you surrender until something a lot more definite is shown to me than I have seen so far, and certainly not until we've had your side of the matter. When you do surrender, Dad will go along with you and stick by you."

Jim sat up straight. "Surrender? What are you talking about. Dad?"

His father suddenly looked very old and tired. "Marlowes don't run away from the law. Son. You know I'll stick by you no matter what you've done. But you've got to face up to it."

Jim looked at his father defiantly. "Dad, if you think Frank and I have beaten our way across better than two thousand miles of Mars just to give up when we get here-well, you've just got another think coming. And anybody that tries to arrest me is going to find it a hard job." His right hand, almost instinctively, was hovering around the place where his holster ordinarily hung. Phyllis was listening round-eyed; his mother was quietly dripping tears.