It was both glad and sad; the thrill of a new experience to come balancing the loss of the comfortable routine of the old. Friends, however, managed to get aboard the same spacecraft as a general rule and so the pain of parting was spared them. One by one the huge ships dropped South and then headed for Terra. One by one until the three thousand-odd people who lived, loved, and operated Venus Equilateral through its working years had embarked. Channing shook hands with Captain Johannson as he got aboard the last remaining ship. Behind Channing there came Keg Johnson, who supervised the carrying aboard of Walt Franks and Christine Baler. They were seated side by side in deck chairs on the operating bridge of the spacecraft and Arden came up to stand beside her husband as she asked: "Captain Johannson, you are empowered to perform matrimony?" Johannson nodded. "Well," she said, "I'm the Maid of Honor and this husband of mine intends to be best man. We agree that the couple there have spent too much time living with one another--" "If she says 'sin' I'll strangle her," groaned Walt. Christine reached over and took his hand. "She doesn't dare," said the girl. "She knows it was ah--er--colder than sin!" Big Jim Baler clenched and unclenched his hands. "I still think we should have called on Mark Kingman," he said in a growl. Channing shook his head. "And spoil the fine end of a fine holiday? Nope. And also spoil a fine bit of retribution?" Linna Johnson smiled. "A man of action like Jim finds the finer points of retribution a bit too smooth," she said. "But it'll be plenty rough on Kingman." "To the devil with Kingman," said Barney Carroll. "I say we ought to commit this ceremony at once and then repair to the bar--or have the bar repair here--and have a last drink to Venus Equilateral." Walt Franks stood up. "I'm still stiff," he said. "But I'll be damned if I'm going to sit down at my own wedding." Christine stood beside him. "You're thinking about that 'repair to the bar' and don't want to get left," she told him. "Well, frozen solid or not, I'm sticking tight." Johannson turned to the pilot and gave the order. The big ship dropped from the platform, and they all looked down through the glass dome at the diminishing view of Venus Equilateral. The captain turned to Channing and asked: "Just what did happen to Mark Kingman?"