"It's shorter directly back to the base," Scotty objected.
"Sure. And you'll attract more attention that way. Go through the valley and back to Route 95, and you'll enter from the front gate. Then who'll know you didn't spend the night in Vegas?"
It took only ten minutes to get the parts from Deadrock's jeep, which was parked in a ravine, invisible to anything except a low-flying plane. They said good-by to the "prospector" at the edge of town.
"Got the map in your heads? You won't get lost?" Deadrock asked.
"We'll be fine," Rick assured him.
"All right. Get goin'. And, boys—look out for sidewinders!"
CHAPTER XII
Servomotors Missing
Rick and Scotty took time to shower and change, then left on their prearranged errands. Scotty headed for his own department, to check all travel to the north since the Orion firing. Rick set out to find John Gordon.