By the time an hour had passed, the _Falcon_ had groped out through the periodic break in the meteor-swarm around the asteroid. And it was throbbing at steadily increasing speed out into the vault of space, away from the World with a Thousand Moons. "We'll head for Mars," Kenniston told the others. "We can report there to the Patrol." "If you don't mind," Holk Or put in hastily, "I'd just as soon you dropped me at some asteroid before then. I've no desire to meet the Patrol." Captain Walls told the Jovian, "Nonsense! After what you've done, you'll get a full pardon from the Patrol." "You can count on it," Hugh Murdock told the doubtful Jovian. "We have some influence, back at Earth." "Well, I guess I'll have to go honest, then," sighed Holk Or. "All the real pirate outfits are gone now, anyway." He shook his head heavily as he walked away. "The System sure isn't what it used to be." Captain Walls was asking Ricky earnestly, "You're quite sure your formula will cure my son? All these years, I've hoped and prayed--" "I'm certain," Ricky smiled. "Within a few weeks after we get back to Earth, gravitation-paralysis will be a thing of the past." They moved off with the others. But Gloria lingered in the bridge with Kenniston. "Where will you be going, after we get back?" she asked him quietly. "Oh, back to space," he answered, a little uncomfortably. "There's nothing to hold me on Earth now that Ricky's work has succeeded." "Nothing to hold you on Earth?" Gloria repeated. "That, I would say, is about the most ungallant speech on record." He flushed. "You don't mean--that night on the _Sunsprite_--you weren't in earnest, surely--" "Your passionate proposal is accepted," Gloria said calmly. Kenniston was aghast. "But I didn't propose! I mean--I do love you, and you know it, but you're an heiress, and I--" "We'll have all the way back to Mars to argue _that_ out," she told him. "And I have an idea you'll lose." Kenniston had the same idea. The End. * * * * * End of Project Gutenberg's The World with a Thousand Moons, by Edmond Hamilton