"I planned everything except our destination. On earth we only hear of the human colonies. Spacemen seldom publish their adventures on the uninhabited worlds."

"Well," said Jan, "I could take you to Big America where you could live like Eskimos at the equator. Or I could take you to Mark Twain where there is plenty of fruit and game but where a human being weighs about 400 pounds and usually lacks the energy to lift a hand or pull a trigger. Or how about Satan, which is populated with very intelligent and very poisonous snakes? Or Melville, which is all fresh water ocean and living would be easy if one didn't mind eating fish and if there were anything to make ships out of. Or Boxley, where a hundredweight of lead would scarcely keep you on the ground. There are so many places where Terrans can survive."

"Do we have to decide right now?"

"No. We are going in the general direction of the known inhabitable worlds. You will have two weeks, earth time, to decide."

The interview pleased Jan immensely. At least in the most important matter he would be in command if he played his cards right.

The voyage settled down to routine. The passengers sang and prayed about half the time. The crew stayed out of their way as much as possible, which was an ideal situation from the standpoint of morale. There was, of course, the problem of Jimpson, cook third class, who donned a white robe and neglected to shave before ten days had passed. Jan decided to ignore the matter.

Fortunately the crewmen were all non-Terrans. He had wisely let the earthmen have the first liberty in their home port.

The Mohcans had the usual trouble of first passengers in adapting themselves to non-gravity. They bumped their heads rather badly on the bulkheads before they learned that practically no force was required to get from one place to another.

The only passenger who gave him trouble was the one called Sister Ellen, widow of the man who was killed in the fight with the police. After about five days, earth time, he was surprised to find her kneeling outside his stateroom. The fact that she was floating about six inches off the deck made the posture slightly ludicrous. Her face, however, was very beautiful with its expression of calm, serious contemplation.

"What are you doing here?" Jan asked.

"I'm praying for you."

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