Rip started to object, but then he caught a glimmer of meaning. He stuck
out his hand. "Thanks, Joe. I hope we'll meet again."

Barris grinned. "We will, Rip. I'll ask for you as a platoon commander
when they assign me to cleaning up the goopies on Ganymede." This was the
major's idea of the worst Planeteer job in the solar system.

The group shook hands all around; then the young officers broke for the
door on the run. The Terra rocket was blasting off in five minutes, and
they were to be on it.

Rip joined Flip Villa, and they jumped on the high-speed track that would
whisk them to Valve Two on the other side of the platform. Their gear was
already loaded. They had only to take seats on the rocket, and their six
years on the space platform would be at an end.

"I wonder what it will be like to get back to high gravity," Rip mused.
The centrifugal force of the spinning platform acted as artificial
gravity, but it was considerably less than Earth's.

"We probably won't be able to walk straight until we get our Earth legs
back," Flip answered. "I wish I could stay in Colorado with you instead
of going back to Mexico City, Rip. We could have a lot of fun in eight
weeks."

Rip nodded. "Tough luck, Flip. But anyway, we have the same assignment."

Both Planeteers had been assigned to Special Order Squadron Four, which
was attached to the cruiser _Bolide_. The cruiser was in high space,
beyond the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn, doing comet research.