McCauley was the man who'd hauled him back. The others crouched or squatted down, holding fast to the metallic projections from the surface of Eros. They'd given up their ropes to make a rope long enough for his rescue. While one went after him and McCauley stood erect to draw him back, the others held fast by their fingertips to keep from sharing his predicament. They'd risked floating away as helplessly as he himself, in order that their life lines might be used to save him. McCauley did not reprimand Fallon, but he pointedly thanked the others for the promptness with which they'd acted. Later, Randy asked vexedly: "What was the matter with Fallon? He knew he shouldn't have unfastened his rope!" "His knot wasn't good, and I retied it," said McCauley dryly. "But he thinks I intend to kill everybody, probably him first. So when I meddled with his life rope he thought I was arranging his death. He meant to retie the knot to defeat my evil intention." "He's a fool!" snapped Randy. "We'd better have it out with him, or there's no telling what he'll do next!" "I'm afraid I have to," McCauley said distastefully. "He'll be humiliated when he finds out I was humoring him. But get him, anyhow." There was a clanking sound somewhere in the ship. The inner air-lock door closed. There were noises that told of the sealing dogs being tightened. Then, immediately, the outside lock door opened. Randy went to find Fallon. He came back, disturbed. "Fallon just went outside. He's supposed to be off-duty, too." McCauley frowned. Then he flipped the outside-communicator switch. As a matter-of-fact precaution, there was two-way communication with emptiness whenever anybody was outside the ship. Anything that came in was immediately heard from speakers all over the ship, so that the control room did not have to be manned all the time work was proceeding on the planetoid's surface. If an emergency arose, everybody anywhere in the ship would know immediately. "Fallon," said McCauley curtly into the outside transmitter, "you're wanted. Come back, please." Silence. No answer. There was only darkness outside the ship now. Stars moved steadily up from the blackness that was one nearby horizon, and down to the blackness that was the other. The red disk of Mars--very near, now--was the brightest object in the heavens. "Fallon!" snapped McCauley. "You're wanted! Return to the ship immediately!" A clanking sound came from all the loud-speakers inside the ship. Then Fallon's voice. "Wait a minute." He panted as if doing some heavy labor where there was no weight. "Ah-h-h! Right! What do you want?" "I want you back in the ship," said McCauley sternly. More clankings. They were the type of sound that might be heard inside an air-filled space suit and picked up by its helmet microphone. "What are you doing?" demanded McCauley. "I'm fixing ... uh!..." The last was a grunt. "I'm fixing a way to settle something.... I'm set now."