“the Space Command’s youngest hero.”

Rob’s eyes roved about looking for the jeep which General Forester had said would be here to meet him. He glimpsed the distant Lunar panorama which was the scene of his first interplanetary adventure some years before. He had visited all the planets or their moons since then. There had been perils, defeats, triumphs. It amazed him that he was still alive after it all. Beyond the gaunt stone buildings of the colony, the serrated tops of the Lunary Appenines pricked the black sky where stars almost too many to comprehend lay scattered like self-luminous gems.

“Lieutenant Allison!” came a voice from across the drifts of pumice. “Over here!”

Rob approached the jeep, jogging along with the ease of an elf’s tread in Luna’s light gravity. Rob recognized a circlet of rockets on the driver’s plastic helmet and was both surprised and flattered.

“General Forester!” he said over his suit radio. He saw the officer’s grin within the shadows of his headgear.

“You’re just about the most important person in the world now, Rob,” General Forester said, “and so I thought I’d come for you personally.” His narrow brown mustache thinned to a pencil line as he continued to smile welcomingly.

Rob felt a disturbing jolt within him as he heard the general’s words. What significance lay behind this remark?

“I’m flattered, sir,” Rob said.

“You shouldn’t be,” the general said brusquely, in a strange reversal of manner. It was odd how quickly his sunny expression became grim. “I’m afraid we’re more interested in you for what you can do for us—and Earth—than in your personality.”

Rob felt the uneasy tightening of the noose of suspense. He felt suddenly naked and alone, his confidence shaky. He wanted to ask why he had been chosen to take on an apparently enormous task. The general anticipated him.

“We picked you, Rob, for this biggest of all jobs because you’ve been through all the terror and suspense that the project might entail. Your reputation for courage has caught up with you, Rob, and we’re going to use it for all it’s worth!”

Rob felt his pulse throbbing in his temples as the jeep scurried over the sand dunes toward Space Command headquarters. While his heart could scarcely contain his excitement, his mind was 

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