"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." "You've been out--how long?" Carr hesitated. "Eighty Martian days. Seen plenty too." He waved his arm in a gesture that seemed to take in the entire universe. "Why come here, with so much to be seen out there?" "Came to visit you, old stick-in-the-mud," grinned Mado, "and to try and persuade you to join me. I find you footloose already. You're itching for adventure; excitement. Will you come?" Carr listened spellbound. "Right now?" he asked. "This very minute. Come on." "My bag," objected Carr, "it must be packed. I'll need funds too." "Bag! What for? Plenty of duds on the _Nomad_--for any old climate. And money--don't make me laugh! Vagabonds need money?" He backed toward the open manhole of the _Nomad_, still grinning. Carr hesitated, resisting the impulse to take Mado at his word. He looked around. The landing stage had been deserted, but people now were approaching. People not to be tolerated at the moment. He saw Courtney Davis, grim and determined. There'd be more arguments, useless but aggravating. Well, why not go? He'd decided to break away. What better chance? Suddenly he dived for the manhole of Mado's vessel; wriggled his way to the padded interior of the air-lock. He heard the clang of the circular cover. Mado was clamping it to its gasketed seat. "Let's go!" he shouted. CHAPTER II _Into the Heavens_ The directors of International Airways stared foolishly when they saw Carr Parker and the giant Martian enter the mysterious ship which was a trespasser on their landing stage. They gazed incredulously as the gleaming torpedo-shaped vessel arose majestically from its position. There was no evidence of motive power other than a sudden radiation from its hull plates of faintly crackling streamers of silvery light. They fell back in alarm as it pointed its nose skyward and accelerated with incredible rapidity, the silver energy bathing them in its blinding luminescence. They burst forth in excited recrimination when it vanished into the blue. Courtney Davis shook his fist after the departing vessel and swore mightily. Carr Parker forgot them entirely when he clambered into the bucket seat beside Mado, who sat at the Nomad's controls. He was free at last: free to probe the mysteries of outer space, to roam the skies with this Martian he had admired since boyhood. "Glad you came?" Mado asked his Terrestrial friend.