randy would have liked nothing better than to have been at lowell harbor to welcome his father, but the quarantine made that impossible. however, randy left word for his father to phone him on arrival.

hours after the sensational telecast, the radiophone finally buzzed. randy ran to it, flipped a switch, and listened on the two-way microphone.

“pops!” randy exclaimed. “yes, it’s me! how are you?” on and on the excited conversation went.

“isn’t it wonderful, mom?” ted said to his mother.

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“it certainly is!” she answered. “your dad and i really believed randy would never see his father alive again.”

yank had been allowed into the house. he seemed to realize that this was a moment of good times, for he capered about like an animated ball of fur. he even tried to make noises into the mike himself, but randy playfully pushed him off.

feeling pretty good himself now, ted thought that if yank wanted action he’d give it to him. he cuffed the little animal gently along his head. yank tore after him, catching him near the air lock. down went the boy and color bear together. yank growled menacingly but did not impress ted with his mock ferocity. yank got on top of ted, and ted called for help.

just then randy’s long conversation with his father ended, and he came over to join the fun. then the three of them were scrambling and yelling together. ted halted his play for a moment to look up and see jill standing in the doorway, her face beaming as though she would like to join the fun. mrs. kenton looked around, and her face darkened.

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“you’d better get back in that bed, young lady!” her mother threatened.

jill squealed and ran off to bed. ted saw that his mother was not really angry. she was smiling, and ted knew she was glad to find that jill was feeling so much better.

the rest of the day passed on the same high note of joy. where several days ago, everything had been fear and gloom, now everything was rosy. the next day, after randy had talked with his father again, he was impatient to get out and meet him. ted, too, was beginning to feel the pinch of the quarantine.

the boys went out to take a look at the garden. the stems were high and full of broad leaves. it looked like a miniature jungle here. and in such a short time! ted checked the atmosphere gauge that showed the percentage of oxygen to carbon dioxide in the greenhouse. the gas from the carbon dioxide tank had to be just so, or the plants would suffocate from an overabundance of oxygen.

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when the boys returned to the living room, mrs. kenton said to them, “i have a surprise for you two. turn your heads.”

they did so, and when she told them to look around they saw a fully dressed jill standing there, her cheeks pink and healthy again. ted hugged his sister as though she had been away a long time and was just getting back.

at last, the day that, it had seemed, would never arrive finally did come. randy was up especially early that morning, saying that he wanted to visit his father before he went to school.

the children were in the living room awaiting breakfast.

“i’m sure they’ll let you off from school one more day to be with your father, randy,” mrs. kenton called from the kitchen.

“even if they do, i don’t want to lose any time seeing him,” randy said.

suddenly jill pointed a shaky finger toward the front door. “l-look, there’s a man at the door?”

ted turned around, startled. “i wonder who...” he began.

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but randy was not puzzled. he ran across the room and flipped the switch that controlled the air lock. a few minutes later a robust man in a space suit entered and pulled off his helmet. he had a rugged, kindly face which showed the effects of the terrible strain he had been under so long. but he was smiling.

“pops!” randy cried and threw his arms around him.

“boy, what a squeeze you have!” mr. matthews grunted. “you’ve grown, randy.”

when their prolonged greeting was over, randy introduced his father to the kentons. ted’s hand was almost lost in the large, powerful grip of mr. matthews.

“you’re just in time for breakfast, mr. matthews,” mrs. kenton said.

“it’s been a long time since i’ve had a home-cooked meal,” the man answered wistfully. “i’d like to join you.”

as they were eating, dr. matthews heard the story of his son’s adoption by the kentons. then he said, “i can’t thank you folks enough for taking care of my boy just as if he were one of your own.”

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“pops!” randy cried.

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“randy has been one of us,” mrs. kenton said warmly.

“what do you say about that?” his father asked. “do you want to leave these nice people?”

randy looked uncertain. it was a situation he had given little thought to before. “i don’t really like leaving them,” randy said hesitantly. then he seemed to have an idea. “i’ve got it, dad! why can’t you come and live here?”

mr. matthews laughed. “i’m afraid that’s carrying hospitality too far. no, we’ll build us a house of our own, as close by as we can. until we get an allotment of housing material, we’ll get a room in headquarters.”

“there’s no use both of you living there,” mrs. kenton said. “why not led randy stay on here until your house is ready to move into?”

“sure,” ted put in. “why can’t randy do that?” he had been saddened at the thought of randy leaving the household. it had seemed as though randy was going to be with them always, for he had not believed that randy’s father was ever coming back.

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randy thought this was a fine idea. ted could see that he did not like parting with the kentons any more than they did with him. mr. matthews was reluctant to take further advantage of the kenton hospitality, but at last was talked into the proposition.

the children went along with randy’s father back toward town, following along in the kenton boat. mr. matthews said he’d arrange for randy to have the day off from school so that the two of them could have a good visit.

the young kentons were glad to be back in the thick of things. they found school particularly interesting that day, because a field trip was announced by mr. garland.

“every year this class is given an exploring field trip over certain areas of the planet so that you can get a firsthand knowledge of mars’s geography,” the instructor declared. “the trip is by plane and will last two days. you must have your parents’ consent, of course.”

that afternoon, as ted and jill left school, ted said, “what do you think of that trip, sis?”

“it sounds like fun!” she said. “i hope we can go.”

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“i’d like to, too, but don’t forget mom would be by herself.”

“i’d forgotten about that,” jill said disappointedly. “mother would tell us to go on, if we asked her, i know, but i still wouldn’t want to leave her. there are so many things that could happen.”

“we’ll just have to forget it then,” ted said. “maybe we can make it another time.”

the two kept a brooding silence, and ted wondered if jill was as disappointed as he was. when randy found out that they had decided not to go, he said he did not care to go either.

that night ted had a dream. in it he was exploring on the great barren desert with jill and randy but they wore no helmets and it seemed as though they could hardly get their breath. they gasped and choked, and the dream grew into a nightmare of terror. suddenly, ted woke. he sat up in bed in a cold sweat, feeling a strange lightheadedness. his breath was coming hard into his lungs.

it had not only been a dream. something had happened to the atmosphere in the house.