"Johnny?"
"Yes?"
"We aren't—aren't going to reconvert him, are we? Not now?"
"No, Marte." Johnny Nine took a deep breath. "Not now. We're going to take him with us, and bury him, really bury him. Put the Earth over him. He'd like that, Marte. Not in the reconverter, but in the cool Earth, the Earth of Home."
"Yes," she said very softly, "he'd like that."
Closer and closer. The Ship was well inside Jupiter, skyrocketing to her rendezvous with the pilot ship. The radio lapse was less than thirty minutes now.
The Captain turned from the speaker. "You heard it, Johnny. What can we tell them?"
Earth wanted press comments. Tell us about the trip!
The Mate stood up.