Clayton shook his head and tried to stand up in the wreckage. He got to his hands and knees, dizzy but unhurt, and took a deep breath of the fresh air that was blowing in through the hole in the cabin.
It felt just like home.
Bureau of Criminal Investigation
Regional Headquarters
Cheyenne, Wyoming
20 January 2102
To: Space Transport Service
Subject: Lifeship 2, STS-52
Attention Mr. P. D. Latimer
Dear Paul,
I have on hand the copies of your reports on the rescue of the men on the disabled STS-52. It is fortunate that the Lunar radar stations could compute their orbit.
The detailed official report will follow, but briefly, this is what happened:
The lifeship landed—or, rather, crashed—several miles west of Cheyenne, as you know, but it was impossible to find the man who was piloting it until yesterday because of the weather.
He has been identified as Ronald Watkins Clayton, exiled to Mars fifteen years ago.