He sat up on the bed, conscious now of his surroundings.
"Simon says you were coming back, Ben. Why?"
He fought to grasp the meaning of Maggie's words. "Simon? Simon found me? He brought me back?"
"Only a short way. He said you were almost here."
Ben closed his eyes, reliving the whirlwind of thought that had whipped through his brain. He mumbled something about pioneers and a scrawled paper and a debt and a decision.
Then he blinked and saw that he and Maggie were not alone. Simple Simon stood at the foot of his bed—and was that a trace of a smile on his reptilian mouth? And three windsuited spacemen stood behind Maggie, helmets in their hands. One was a lean-boned, reddish-skinned Martian.
Simple Simon said, "Ben—changed. Thinks—like us. Good now. Like—Jacob."
The little big-eared man stepped up and shook hands with Ben. "If Simon says so, that's good enough for me."
A blond-haired Earthman helped Ben from the bed. "Legs okay, fellow? Think you're ready?"
Ben stood erect unassisted. "Legs okay. And I'm ready."