Dio's green, narrowed eyes studied Gray's hard face. "What's the matter, Gray? Trying to start something?" "Suppose I were?" asked Gray silkily. Dio was the unofficial leader of the convict-veterans. There was about his thin body and hatchet face some of the grim determination that had made the Martians cling to their dying world and bring life to it again. "You volunteered, like the rest of us," said the Martian. "Haven't you the guts to stick it?" "The hell I volunteered! The IPA sent me. And what's it to you?" "Only this." Dio's green eyes were slitted and ugly. "You've only been here a month. The rest of us came nearly a year ago--because we wanted to. We've worked like slaves, because we wanted to. In three weeks the crops will be in. The Moulton Project will be self-supporting. Moulton will get his permanent charter, and we'll be on our way. "There are ninety-nine of us, Gray, who want the Moulton Project to succeed. We know that that louse Caron of Mars doesn't want it to, since pitchblende was discovered. We don't know whether you're working for him or not, but you're a troublemaker. "There isn't to be any trouble, Gray. We're not giving the Interplanetary Prison Authority any excuse to revoke its decision and give Caron of Mars a free hand here. We'll see to anyone who tries it. Understand?" * * * * * Mel Gray took one slow step forward, but Ward's sharp, "Stow it! A guard," stopped him. The Martian worked back up the furrow. The guard, reassured, strolled back up the valley, squinting at the jagged streak of pale-grey sky that was going black as low clouds formed, only a few hundred feet above the copper cables that ran from cliff to cliff high over their heads. "Another storm," growled Ward. "It gets worse as Mercury enters perihelion. Lovely world, ain't it?" "Why did you volunteer?" asked Gray, picking up his hoe. Ward shrugged. "I had my reasons." Gray voiced the question that had troubled him since his transfer. "There were hundreds on the waiting list to replace the man who died. Why did they send me, instead?" "Some fool blunder," said Ward carelessly. And then, in the same casual tone, "You mean it, about escaping?" Gray stared at him. "What's it to you?" Ward moved closer. "I can help you?" A stab of mingled hope and wary suspicion transfixed Gray's heart. Ward's dark face grinned briefly into his, with a flash of secretive black eyes, and Gray was conscious of distrust. "What do you mean, help me?" Dio was working closer, watching them. The first growl of thunder rattled against the cliff faces. It was dark now, the pink flames of the Dark-side aurora visible beyond the valley mouth. "I've got--connections," returned Ward cryptically. "Interested?"