Shinny got up. "Tomorrow, same time, same place," he said, hurrying out the door.
Roger finished the bottle of Martian fizz, suddenly very depressed. He didn't really want the false papers. He just wanted to get away from the deadly humdrum existence on Spaceman's Row. He walked wearily back to his scrubby little bedroom to wait for night to come. He hated to go back to the room, because he knew he would think about Tom and Astro and the Space Academy. Now he couldn't allow himself to think about it any more. It was past. Finished.
"You got who?" asked Loring.
"I said I got the best astrogator in the deep for ya!" snapped Shinny.
Loring looked at Mason and then suddenly burst out laughing, dropping his head on the table.
"What's the matter with you?" demanded Shinny. "You got space fever or something?"
Mason, sitting quietly in the dirty hotel room, was grinning from ear to ear.
"So you got Manning for us, eh?" repeated Loring at last. "I wanta tell you something, Shinny. I was the one that got that kid to break outta that space station!"
"You what?" asked Shinny. The little spaceman had come to like the straightforwardness of Roger.
"That's right," said Loring. "When Mason and me loused up taking over the Annie Jones, that kid, Manning, was on the radar watch at the station. At the same time we were gonna crash into the station he crossed a coupla wires and was talking to his girl back on Earth! They think he fouled up the radar and caused the crash!"