"Hold it," Doug commanded. "We're on safe ground but I think Barn's passed out."

Edith clambered down from the tractor and went to the edge of the gulch. Doug was connecting his emergency air hose from his backpack tank to Gordette's. She shook her head inside her helmet. If it'd been me, I'd of let the sumbitch die down there. He tried to kill Doug!

But she heard Gordette cough and sputter and knew he was going to make it. Doug had saved him.

It took the better part of an hour to get them both out of the rille and their air tanks topped off from the tractor's supply. Then Edith started back toward Moonbase with Doug sitting between her and Gordette.

For hours Gordette said nothing. The man just sat on Doug's other side, wrapped in his spacesuit and total silence.

At last Doug said to him, "I've been pretty close to death, Bam. It changes your outlook on life."

"Does it?" Gordette muttered.

"It did for me. I think you're going to find it will for you, too."

Gordette said nothing. Edith thought Doug was wasting his breath.

"When we get back to Moonbase," Doug went on, "you'll have the chance to start a new life. Start all over, with the past gone forever."

"Until they throw you out of Moonbase," Gordette said.

"They're not going to do that, Bam. With your help, we can beat them."

"With my help?"

"I want you with us. I want you to be part of Moonbase."

"Do you?"

"We've gone through a lot together, Bam. We're bound together. Life or death, what affects one of us affects us both."

Gordette was silent for several moments. Then he said grudgingly, "You got some grip, all right. Once you get your hands on a man you don't let go, do you?"

"That's up to you," Doug answered.

"You're crazy, you know that?"

"Maybe," Doug admitted.

"And what about you, lady?" Gordette asked sullenly. "You as crazy as this man here?"

Edith almost snapped out her true feelings. But she realized that Doug had risked his life to save his would-be murderer. And now it all hung on what she had to say.

She swallowed her anger. "If Doug wants you to be with us, that's good enough for me."

"You'd trust me?"

Edith blurted, "Not very far. Not at first, anyway."

For a moment there was silence, then Gordette laughed: a low, ironic chuckle. "Fair enough, I guess. Fair enough."

Edith wished she could see the man's face. Doug's not crazy, she thought. He's wiser than all of us put together. But I wish I could see Gordette's face. I'd feel better about this if I could see his eyes.

PART III: Battle

Contents—Prev

But when the blast of war blows in our ears, Then imitate the action of the tiger…

Shakespeare Henry V

THE HAGUE

"Telephone for you, Senator. The White House."