"Sure. They don't like us going up to Jupiter. They got claims there, too. They'd like to see our colony die out. Best way to kill a colony is starve the colony. Starve the people. That means my family and lots of families. Then when you starve out the families the Martians can step in and take over, damn their filthy souls!" * * * * * Kroll fell silent. Nibley shifted around. He walked around in front of Kroll so Kroll would see him. "Captain?" Kroll didn't even look at him. Nibley said, "Maybe I can help." "You?" "You heard about me, captain! You heard about me." "What about you?" "You can't wait a month for another auxiliary computator to come through from Earth. You got to push off tonight, to Jupiter, to get to your family and the colony and all that, captain, sure!" Nibley was hasty, he sort of fidgeted around, his voice high, and excited. "An' if your only computator conks out in the middle of the asteroids, well, you know what that means. Bang! No more ship! No more you. No more colony on Jupiter! Now, you know about me, my ability, you know, you heard." Kroll was cool and quiet and far away. "I heard about you, old man. I heard lots. They say you got a funny brain and do things machines can't do. I don't know. I don't like the idea." "But you got to like the idea, captain. I'm the only one can help you now!" "I don't trust you. I heard about your drinking that time and wrecking that ship. I remember that." "But I'm not drinking now. See. Smell my breath, go ahead! You see?" Kroll stood there. He looked at the ship and he looked at the sky and then at Nibley. Finally he sighed. "Old man, I'm leaving right now. I might just as well take you along as leave you. You might do some good. What can I lose?" "Not a damned thing, Captain, and you won't be sorry," cried Nibley. "Step lively, then!" They went to the Rocket, Kroll running, Nibley hobbling along after. Trembling excitedly, Nibley stumbled into the Rocket. Everything had a hot mist over it. First time on a rocket in--ten years, by god. Good. Good to be aboard again. He smelled it. It smelled fine. It felt fine. Oh, it was very fine indeed. First time since that trouble he got into off the planet Venus ... he brushed that thought away. That was over and past. He followed Kroll up through the ship to a small room in the prow. Men ran up and down the rungs. Men who had families out there on Jupiter and were willing to go through the asteroids with a faulty radar set-up to reach those families and bring them the necessary cargo of machinery and food they needed to go on. Out of a warm mist, old Nibley heard himself being introduced to a third man in the small room. "Douglas, this is Nibley, our auxiliary computating machine." "A poor time for joking, Captain." "It's no joke," cried Nibley. "Here I am." Douglas eyed Nibley with a very cold and exact eye. "No," he said. "No. I can't use him. I'm computant-mechanic."