With an effort Docchi came back to reality. "We appealed to the Medicouncil," he said. "We asked for a ship to go to the nearest star. It would have to be a rocket, naturally. Even allowing for a better design than any we now have, the journey would take a long time, forty or fifty years going and the same length of time back. That's entirely too long for a normal, but it wouldn't matter to a biocompensator." "Why a rocket?" interrupted Jordan. "Why not some form of gravity drive?" "An attractive idea," admitted Docchi. "Theoretically, there's no limit to gravity drive except light speed, and even that's not certain. If it would work, the time element could be cut to a fraction. But the last twenty years have proved that gravity drives won't work at all outside the Solar System. They function very poorly even when the ship is as far out as Jupiter's orbit." "I thought the gravity drive on a ship was nearly the same as the gravital unit on the asteroid," said Jordan. "Why won't they function?" "I don't know why," answered Docchi impatiently. "If I did, I wouldn't be marooned on Handicap Haven. Arms or no arms, biocompensator or not, I'd be the most important scientist on Earth." "With a multitude of pretty women competing for your affections," added Anti. "I think he'd settle for one. A certain one," suggested Jordan. "Poor, unimaginative boy," said Anti. "In my youth...." "We've heard about your youth," said Jordan. "Youth and love are long since past, for both of you. Talk about them privately if you want, but not now." Docchi glowered at them. "Anyway," he resumed, "gravity drive is out. One time they had hopes for it, but no longer. It should be able to drive this ship. Actually, its sole function is to provide an artificial gravity _inside_ the ship, for passenger comfort. So rocket ship it is. That's what we asked for. The Medicouncil refused. Therefore we're going to appeal to a higher authority." "Fine," said Anti. "How?" "We've discussed it," answered Docchi. "Ultimately the Medicouncil is responsible to the Solar Government. And in turn--" "All right, I'm in favor of it," said Anti. "I just wanted to know." "Mars is closer," continued Docchi. "But Earth is the seat of government. As soon as we get there...." He stopped suddenly and listened. Anti listened with him and waited until she could stand it no longer. "What's the matter?" she asked. "I don't hear anything." Jordan leaned forward in his seat and looked at the instrument panel. "That's the trouble, Anti. You're not supposed to hear anything. But you should be able to _feel_ the vibration from the rocket exhaust, as long as it's on." "I don't feel anything, either." "Yeah," said Jordan. He looked at Docchi. "There's plenty of fuel." * * * * *