"Don't we all," I said, but something was turning over in my head. "Are you really going to go back to Venus?"

"Certainly," they all said, in one way or another, and acted surprised at the question. Which surprised me. I hadn't realized that tunnel rats could manage to think of that molten stinkpot as home. Sess Forehand must have read my expression, too. They were a reserved family, but they didn't miss much. He grinned and said:

"It's our home, after all. So is Gateway, in a way."

That was astonishing. "Actually, we're related to the first man to find Gateway, Sylvester Macklen. You've heard of him?"

"How could I not?"

"He was a sort of a cousin. I guess you know the whole story?" I started to say I did, but he obviously was proud of his cousin, and I couldn't blame him, and so I heard a slightly different version of the familiar legend: "He was in one of the South Pole tunnels, and found a ship. God knows how he got it to the surface, but he did, and he got in and evidently squeezed the go-teat, and it went where it was programmed -- here."

"Doesn't the Corporation pay a royalty?" I asked. "I mean, if they're going to pay for discoveries, what discovery would be more worth paying for?"

"Not to us, anyway," said Louise Forehand, somewhat somberly; money was a hard subject with the Forehands. "Of course, Sylvester didn't set out to find Gateway. As you know from what we've been hearing in class, the ships have automatic return. Wherever you go, you just squeeze the go-teat and you come straight back here. Only that didn't help Sylvester, because he was here. It was the return leg of a round trip with about a zillion-year stopover."

"He was smart and strong." Sess took up the story. "You have to be to explore. So he didn't panic. But by the time anybody came…

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LAUNCH AVAILABILITIES

30-107.

FIVE. Three vacancies, Englishspeaking. Terry Yakamora (ph 83-675) or Jay Parduk (83-004).

30-108.

THREE. Armored. One vacancy, English or French. BONUS TRIP. Dorlean Sugrue (P-phone 88-108).

30-109.

ONE. Check trip. Good safety record. See Launch Captain.

30-110.

ONE. Armored. BONUS TRIP. See Launch Captain.

30-111.

THREE. Open enlistment. See Launch Captain.

30-112.

THREE. Probable short trip. Open enlistment. Minimum guarantee. See Launch Captain.

30-113.

ONE. Four vacancies via Gateway Two. Transportation in reliable Five. Tikki Trumbull (ph 87-869).

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…out here to investigate he was out of life support. He could have lived a little longer. He could have used the lox and H-two from the lander tanks for air and water. I used to wonder why he didn't."

"Because he would have starved anyway," Louise cut in, defending her relative.

"I think so. Anyway, they found his body, with his notes in his hand. He had cut his throat."

They were nice people, but I had heard all this, and they were making me late for class.