Curt Rosslyn sat in a chair and stared with wondering eyes at the sandy wastes of Mars. Before him, clear through the transparent plastic of the hospital dome, the settlement sprawled, the narrow streets thronged with busy men and women, as they made last-minute preparations for the evacuation. A ground car churned down the street, dust pluming from beneath its treads, and Lasser, his thin body muffled in his coverall, plunged towards the building. Carter followed him, and Curt, still weak even after ten days beneath the healing lamps of the hospital, waited impatiently for them enter the room.
“Well, Curt?” Carter smiled as he brushed dust from his coverall. “How are you feeling today?”
“Not too bad, but my chest is still sore.”
“Not surprising when you consider that we had to remove h
