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.In his life, he'dgone as far as any man could; in death, he'd be the first one to reach theorbit of Mars.Thorn-dyke had figured it out, and assured them that the sixtubes would give him enough acceleration from the station for that.It was Terrence who recited the ceremony over him, drawing the sad,traditional words out of his memory.There should have been a chaplain, andwould be soon, but they couldn't wait.And at last the little man looked up from the final prayer and nodded, whileJim set off the tubes.For a time they could see the116A Problem in Ethics117diminishing trails of the rockets, and then there was only empty space."God will know where he is," Terrence said finally, and Jim nodded his head.But the work went on, even though Jim felt the sorrow more deeply than most.Dan said nothing, but gave up his own single quarters to move in with the boyfor the few brief days before they could finish the more luxurious quartersand move into them.The station was spinning.It wobbled and danced around a spot not at its hub,but there was a feeling of weight again near the outside of the wheel.Liquidsflowed down, and food remained on open dishes.The weight of the menfluctuated, but it was slow enough a change not to bother them.They were concentrating on finishing the outer hull now.Jim pitched in with agreater effort.For a time, he tried to hold a part of his mind to the last job Bart had lefthim, but it kept slipping off to the work.It was easier to forget when he wasbusy, and he wanted to forget.Nora watched him, worrying over him.With the presence of gravity, the boxesof games had been broken open to provide some entertainment for the men.Shefound a game which involved putting letters onto little squares to form words,and challenged him to a running contest.When that didn't work, she triedanother.Finally, she gave up, and put him to reading to her out of some ofthe books Thorndyke had, making him explain what she couldn't understand.118Step io the StarsAnd she talked about the people in the station.She seemed to know all ofthem, though mostPage 52 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlof them were just names to him."Jerry Wales is getting to be a problem," she told him one time after his workshift."Isuppose I shouldn't tell you, but maybe you can do something.He keeps takingsedatives.He says he can't sleep without them.Ever since Bart died, he'sbeen like that.Of course, he used to take them at the beginning of thestation, but I thought he'd gotten over that."Jim muttered something, and started to forget it.Then he hesitated."Rightafter Bart's death?"She nodded."He came the day before, but just for a normal dose.Afterward, hewanted a double dose.And he's still taking it.I'm going to report him to Dr.Perez if this goes on.""Let him have it!" Jim suggested suddenly."Let him have all he wants, Nora,but be sure to keep a record of it!"He had nothing but a vague suspicion to go on, and he knew he was beingunfair.But the hunt was still on for the spy, and no one had turned upany-thing.There had been those rocket tubes, bent out of line.And thefailure of the two that had led to Bart's death was something he had neverunderstood, unless someone had drained away part of the fuel.Jerry had had ample opportunities.He'd been part of their group.So hadTerrence, for that matter but Terrence hadn't been on the station during thetime when the picture could have been taken, while JerryA Problem in Ethics119had.He groped around in his memory, looking for other things.Somethingseemed to be missing.Finally he nodded faintly.He'd seen Jerry talking to the man who'd let thesodium spill into the lock.It proved nothing Jerry talked to a lot of people.But a few words about what a fuss-budget Jim was, dropped at the right time,might have overcome all the warning Jim had tried to give the man.It hadalways seemed strange that some of that warning hadn't penetrated.Besides, who would have had a better chance to take a picture of the wholestation? Jerry had jockeyed the taxi since it had been sent up, and thepicture must have been taken from some distance.A miniature camera might havebeen hidden inside some bale sent up, marked so he could locate it.It wouldhave been easy for him to slip it into the air lock of the rocket on anothertrip.If the camera was small enough, nobody would have noticed it; some ofthem were no bigger than the joint of a finger.Jim had nothing but circumstantial evidence, he knew, and he was fixing theworst possible charge on a man because of that.But he couldn't get it out ofhis mind.If Jerry was guilty, there would be more trouble.It might result indeath for hundreds of people.If the boy was innocent, he might be able toestablish some proof; at least he wouldn't be condemned with-out more proofthan Jim had.Yet he liked Jerry.The man was a genius with the taxi, and he had a quick,nervous sense of humor that120Siep io the Stars had brightened a lot of dull evenings
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