Athens.

Yancey didn't take risks. The first few excursions, he made from the humidi-hut were within a radius of fifty yards of his headquarters. Gradually, as he became more accustomed to his plasti-shield, to the murk of the world outside, he grew bolder and bolder. He made several trips to replenish the cache of water half-way between the humidi-hut and Athens. He became very clever in establishing land-marks for himself and he found that with practice, his endurance lengthened. He could go much longer without a drink from his thermiteen and the wind no longer drained him of all vitality.

A little more than a month after Morrissey left him at the humidi-hut, Yancey found his first quolla stone. It wasn't a large one, and it was far from perfect, but for Yancey it seemed the good omen he needed. The quolla stones were there to be found. With a little perseverance he could make the rest of his dream come true.

The one inescapable hazard of Yancey's life was the loneliness. Visitors to the station were few, an occasional patrol of space militia, a prospector, or a party of geologists. The days and nights between were long and empty. Yancey would sit polishing the lone quolla stone he had found, wondering if he could stick it out until he had accumulated enough to carry out his long range scheme.

Often, as he groped through the constant veil of orange dust in his search for the gems, he would imagine that there was someone waiting for him at the station, someone to whom he could talk of the difficulties he had faced, someone who could share, perhaps, the dream he held. But, when he passed through the vac-lock, there would be no one—only the monotonous purr of the machinery.

Despite this, when Yancey took the week's leave to visit Athens, he had no idea that he was to meet someone there—that he would not return to the station alone.

You must understand the position of the Venusian women to appreciate the thing that happened with Yancey and Selo.

From the time of the first settlement, fraternization had been frowned upon. No one expected earthmen, twenty-six million miles from home, to ignore the more attractive of the Venusian women. But very few permanent alliances were formed. Militiamen might wink at a buxom beauty, might even invite her caresses to while away a long Venusian night, but with the sunrise she must return to her appointed place in the scheme of things colonial.

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