“When I first came upon the asteroid, the airlock was open. A huge orifice, made for spaceships, as you can tell. I came through and landed. Went through one of the airlocks into the building portion here, where we are now, and just explored. Trial and error. It’s not too difficult to get the basics down-opening and closing doors, and all that. Then figuring out the right mix of atmosphere. I had plenty of time. I got access to the first four or five stories, but I’m pretty certain the place is much bigger than that. At first, I couldn’t get any further than the first few stories, but after a while I found my way around a couple of deeper sections.” “And then?” “What do you mean, ‘and then’? I got bored with it and moved on. I’m a miner, not an explorer or a settler or a scientist. There’s nothing here but iron. I told a few people about it but nobody much believed me or cared until this Troy Putnam fellow I met in Yellow City. He’s the only person who got excited about it, so when he asked me to bring him here, I did it, as I said. Why not? He paid my expenses for the trip, and a little more besides for my time. He was impressed with the place, as was I. Then I went looking for uranium and he went back to Ceres. Never saw him again.” Zip pursed his lips, and his brow furrowed under his red hair--a common expression for the leader of the Starman team. “This has to explain why Zimbardo was looking for you,” he said. “No one outside the pirates knows as much as you about his asteroid. That didn’t seem to bother Troy Putnam, but Zimbardo must consider you a threat. But I can’t understand why he has taken us prisoner. Zimbardo has no heart of mercy whatever. I would have expected him just to silence you for good. Obviously he is preparing this place for some new and big enterprise and is probably occupied, but now I think we’ll be hearing from him before too long. Before that happens, I think we’d better be gone.” “Escape? You talking about escape, Zip? From here?” asked Joe with amazement. Zip addressed St. George. “Tell us everything you know about how this asteroid works. Leave out no detail whatever. Everything you can remember. Joe and Mark, pay close attention! We have to come up with a plan!” * * * * * A full day had passed since Richard Starlight had called the special meeting in his office in the towers of Starlight Enterprise. Now he sat silent and alone in one of the chairs around the great table. Suddenly he spun the chair around and stared through the clear wall in front of him. His gaze went far past the lunar mountains into the distant sky where Mars was just rising, a tiny red point.