It was going to be a tricky undertaking to manage all the complicated controls between the two of them. Shep was further hindered by his ankle that had stiffened while he had slept. Rock had remembered seeing a first-aid kit and he went for it. He wrapped the ankle tightly so that Shep would be able to get about with a minimum of pain. They had to cut the sides of Shep’s magnetic-soled shoe so that there would be as little discomfort as possible. Shep could have done without magnetic shoes altogether, being content to float about weightlessly in the ship when they were beyond Luna’s gravity pull, but this would have interfered with running the ship, which required a certain amount of body leverage. The two got their individual duties synchronized so that there would be no hitch, Rock taking the bulk of the work. They calculated their figures and prepared the tape for the autopilot. Then they strapped down in the couch room for the take-off. Rock still did not trust the _Northern Cross_ too far, and at this moment he was concerned lest the old ship might not respond to the lift of her jets. The next few moments would tell the story. Rock felt the vibration of the ship as the fuel pumps went to work. The overhead prism showed the flow meter registering properly, but the big question was still whether the ship would be able to lift itself into the heights. Then a sudden movement seemed to cut Rock’s breath off in his throat. His body pressed deeply into his couch, aching, but Rock was glad. The ship was rising from the soil of Luna. They pushed the _Northern Cross_ along at the top speed they believed was reasonably safe. The ship creaked and groaned under the burden of maximum thrust. As yet she had given no indication of suffering worse than this, but it was clear that the space vessel had seen her best days. When the _Northern Cross_ was about two-thirds of the way home, a suspicious dot was seen on the radarscope, moving too slowly for a meteor. “Shep!” Rock called. “Take a look at this, will you?” Shep limped over as Rock got out his binoculars. “I can’t believe it!” Rock blurted. “It’s the _Dog Star_!” “What!” Shep cried, and grabbed the binoculars from Rock. “It _is_ the _Dog Star_!” “Kalmus has got more nerve than I thought he had!” Rock said. “I didn’t think he’d risk heading straight for Earth!” “Whatever the reason, we’ve got him in our sights,” Shep said. “What’ll we do?” “Follow him in, I guess,” Rock answered. “Whatever station he heads for, we’ll put the Guard right on him and his cronies.” “I’d advise our keeping our distance so we won’t scare him off,” Shep suggested. Rock nodded. “When we get closer in, we may be able to radio a warning to the stations to be on the lookout for him.”