THE OLD WAY By MILTON LESSER A man could walk around the tiny asteroid in the space of a few hours. But Jerry had only minutes, to find and use--an invisible weapon! [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy November 1951 Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] Like I expected, the fairgrounds were crowded with thousands of the drifter-families waiting for the big blast-off tomorrow. They thronged about uncertainly, in anxious little knots, chattering friendly, meaningless things, making fast friends who would be forgotten in the bustle and competition, after blast-off. Gramps stood apart from all this, and when he saw me he came running through the mob on spindly legs, waving his arms frantically so that I wouldn't miss him. As if I would. If there was anything more incongruous here on the Martian landscape, anything that seemed more out of place than did old Gramps, I didn't see it. Two hundred years ago in another homestead rush, maybe he would have fit. The only thing I know about that is what I read in books, but I could picture Gramps with his battered old corncob pipe and his wizened face, leading a team of mules or oxen or whatever animals they used. "Hey, Jerry," he called. "Hey, kid, I got it!" I'm no kid. I'm twenty-seven, six feet two, and I probably weigh twice as much as Gramps does, wringing wet. But that's the way he was. "Where's Clair?" I asked him. I hadn't seen my wife in a month. She had gone to the Martian Fair with Gramps to put in a bid for one of the old derelict ships, and now I had come here to join them, with a dime, a quarter and a crumpled dollar bill hardly filling the emptiness of my jumper-pocket. "That girl!" He whistled. "She's back at the ship now, cleaning and polishing, putting everything together with spit and string so you wouldn't know the old Karden Cruiser." I felt something gnawing away, deep inside my stomach, and it wasn't just that I was hungry. "The _what_?" I demanded. * * * * * Gramps smiled, and right then I could have seen him rocking on a chair on a little porch, with a garden full of rose bushes and crab grass. I could have seen him anyplace but here with Clair and me, on the eve of the great blast-off for the asteroid belt. "The _what_?" I said again. "The old Karden Cruiser, Jerry. Neat little job. And cheap--they almost gave it away. You shoulda seen those durned fools. No one else bid for it, I had it all to myself, first bid." I tried to be patient. "You didn't expect anyone else to bid for _that_, did you?" He had a hurt look on his face. "Why not? A good ship, kid. When I was your age, younger, I went to Venus on one. I can remember--"