They went inside and found dinner ready. "Call for you, Captain." announced Hazel.

"Already?"

"City Hall. Told 'em you were out but would call back. Nine point six centimeters."

"Come eat your dinner, dear, while it's hot"

"You all go ahead. I won't be long."

Nor was he. Dr. Stone looked inquiringly at him as he joined them. "The Mayor," he told her and the others. "Welcome to Rock City and all that sort of thing. Advised me that the Citizen's Committee has set a speed limit of a hundred miles an hour for ships, five hundred miles an hour for scooters, any­where within a thousand miles of City Hall."

Hazel bristled. "I suppose you told him what they could do with their speed limits?"

"I did not I apologized sweetly for having unwittingly offended on my approach and said that I would be over to pay my respects tomorrow or the next day."

"I thought Mars would have some elbow room," Hazel grumbled. "It turned out to be nothing but scissorbills and pantywaists and tax collectors. So we come on out to the wide open spaces and what do we find? Traffic cops! And my only son without the spunk to talk back to them. I think I'll go to Saturn."

" I hear that Titan Base is awfully chilly," her son answered without rancor. "Why not Jupiter? Pol, flip the salt over this way, please."

"Jupiter? The position isn't favorable. Besides I hear that, Ganymede has more regulations than a girls' school."

"Mother, you are the only juvenile delinquent old enough for a geriatrics clinic whom I have ever known. You know perfectly well that an artificial colony has to have regulations."

"An excuse for miniature Napoleons! This whole system has taken to wearing corsets."

"What's a corset?" inquired Lowell.

"Uh... a predecessor to the spacesuit, sort of."

Lowell still looked puzzled; his mother said, "Never mind, dear. When we get back, Mother will show you one, in the museum."

Captain Stone proposed that they all turn in right after supper; they had all run short on sleep during the maneuvering approach. "I keep seeing spots before my eyes," he said, rubbing them, "from staring into the tank. I think I'll sleep the clock around."

Hazel started to answer when an alarm shrilled; he passed instantly from sleepy to alert. "Object on collision course! Grab something, everybody." He clutched at a stanchion with one hand, gathered inLowell with the other.

But no shove from a firing jato followed. "Green," Hazel announced quietly. "Whatever it is, it isn't moving fast enough to hurt us. Chances favor a near miss, anyway."

Captain Stone took a deep breath, "I hope you're right, but I've been on the short end of too many long shots to place much faith in statistics. I've been jumpy ever since we entered the Belt"

Meade went aft with dirty dishes. She returned in a hurry, round eyed. "Daddy - somebody's at the door."

"What? Meade, you're imagining things."

"No, I'm not I heard him. Listen."

"Quiet, everyone." In the silence they could hear the steady hiss of an air injector; the lock was cycling. Roger Stone lunged toward the airlock; he was stopped by a sharp warning from his mother. "Son! Hold it a second"

"What?"

"Keep back from that door." She had her gun out and at the ready.

"Huh? Don't be silly. And put that thing away; it isn't charged anyhow."

"He won't know that. Whoever is coming in that lock."

Dr. Stone said quietly, "Mother Hazel, what are you nervous about?"

"Can't you see? We've got a ship here with food in it. And oxy. And a certain amount of single-H. This isn't Luna City; there are men out here who would be tempted."

Dr. Stone did not answer but turned to her husband. He hesitated only momentarily, then snapped, "Go forward, dear. Take Lowell. Meade, you go along and lock the access hatch. Leave the ship's phones open. If you hear anything wrong, radio City Hall and tell them we are being hijacked. Move!" He was already ducking into his stateroom, came out with his own gun.

By the time the hatch to the control room had clanged shut the airlock finished cycling. The four remaining waited, sur­rounding the airlock inner door. "Shall we jump him, Dad?" Castor whispered.

"No just stay out of my line of ifre."

Slowly the door swung open. A spacesuited figure crouched in the frame, its features indistinct in its helmet. It looked around, saw the guns trained on it, and spread both its hands open in front of it. "What's the matter?" a muffled voice said plaintively. "I haven't done anything."

Captain Stone could see that the man, besides being empty-handed, carried no gun at his belt. He put his own away. "Sorry. Let me give you a hand with that helmet"

The helmet revealed a middle-aged, sandy-haired man with mild eyes. "What was the matter?" he repeated.

"Nothing. Nothing at all. We didn't know who was boarding us and we were a bit nervous. My name's Stone, by the way. I'm master."

"Glad to know you, Captain Stone. I'm Shorty Devine."

"I'm glad to know you, Mr. Devine. Welcome aboard."

"Just Shorty." He looked around. "Uh, excuse me for bursting in on you and scaring you but I heard you had a doctor aboard. A real doctor, I mean - not one of those science johnnies."

"We have."

"Gee, that's wonderful! The town hasn't had a real doctor since old Doc Schultz died. And I need one, bad."

"Sorry! Pol, get your mother."

"I heard, dear," the speaker horn answered. "Coming." The hatch opened and Dr. Stone came in. "I'm the doctor, Mr. Devine. Dear, I'll use this room, I think. If you will all go somewhere else, please?"

The visitor said hastily, "Oh, they needn't"

"I prefer to make examinations without an audience," she said firmly.

"But I didn't explain, ma'am - Doctor. It isn't me; it's my partner."

"Oh?"

"He broke his leg. Got careless with two big pieces of core material and got his leg nipped between 'em. Broke it. I guess I didn't do too well by him for he's a powerfully sick man. Could you come over right away, Doctor?"

"Certainly."

"Now, Edith!"

"Castor, get my surgical kit - the black one. Will you help me suit up, dear?"

"But Edith, you -"

"It's all right, Captain; I've got my scooter right outside. We're only eight-five, ninety miles away; we won't be gone long."

Captain Stone sighed. "I'm going with you. Will your scooter take three?"

"Sure, sure! It's got Reynolds saddles; set any balance you need."

"Take command, Hazel"

"Aye aye, sir!"

They were gone all night, ship's time, rather than a short while. Hazel sat at the control board, tracking them all the way out - then watched and waited until she spotted them leaving, and tracked them back. Devine, profuse with thanks, had breakfast with them. Just before he left Lowell came into the saloon carrying Fuzzy Britches. Devine stopped with a bite on the way to his mouth and stared. "A flat cat! Or am I seeing things?"

"Of course it is. Its name is Fuzzy Britches. It's a Martian."

"You bet it is! Say, do you mind if I pet her for a moment?"

Lowell looked him over suspiciously, granted the boon. The prospector held it like one who knows flat cats, cooed to it, and stroked it. "Now ain't that nice! Almost makes me wish I had never left Mars - not but what its better here." He handed it back reluctantly, thanked them all around again, and left

Dr. Stone flexed her fingers. "That's the first time I've done surgery in free fall since the old clinic days. I must review my techniques."

"My dear, you were magnificent. And Jock Donaher is mighty lucky that you were near by."

"Was he pretty bad, Mummy?" asked Meade.

"Quite," answered her father. "You wouldn't enjoy the details. But your Mother knew what to do and did it And I was a pretty fair scrub nurse myself, if I do say so as shouldn't."