Chapter 17
He grinned. "Later. Let's go to see Paul, first. A big day for him--because of Ramos. Paul is getting feeble, I suppose?" Nelsen's face had sobered.
"Not so you could notice it much, Frank," Nance answered. "There's a new therapy--another side of What's Coming, I guess..."
They walked the few blocks. The owner of the Hobby Center was now a long-time member of KRNH Enterprises. He had the means to expand and modernize the place beyond recognition. But clearly he had realized that some things should not change.
In the display window, however, there gleamed a brand-new Archer Nine, beautiful as a garden or a town floating, unsupported, under the stars--beautiful as the Future, which was born of the Past.
A Bunch of fellas--the current crop of aficionados--were inside the store, making lots of noise over the news. Was that Chip Potter, grown tall? Was that his same old dog, Blaster? Frank Nelsen could see Paul Hendricks' white-fringed bald-spot.
"Go ahead--open the door. Or are you still scared?" Nance challenged lightly.
"No--just anticipating," Nelsen gruffed. "And seeing if I can remember what's Out There ... Serene, bubb, Belt, Pallas..." He spoke the words like comic incantations, yet with a dash of reverence.
"Superbia?" Nance teased.
"That is somebody's impertinent joke!" he growled in feigned solemnity. "Anyhow, it would be too bad if something _that_ important couldn't take a little ribbing. Shucks--we've hardly _started_ to work, yet!"
He drew Nance back a pace, out of sight of those in the store, and kissed her long and rather savagely.
"With all its super-complications, life still seems pretty nice," he commented.
The door squeaked, just as it used to, as Nelsen pushed it open. The old overhead bell jangled.
Pale, watery eyes lifted and lighted with another fulfilment.
"Well, Frank! Long time no see...!"
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THE PLANET STRAPPERS
started out as The Bunch, a group of student-astronauts in the back room of a store in Jarviston, Minnesota. They wanted off Earth, and they begged, borrowed and built what they needed to make it.
THE PLANET STRAPPERS got what they wanted--a start on the road to the stars--but no one brought up on Earth could have imagined what was waiting for them Out There!
In THE PLANET STRAPPERS, Ray Gallun has written a story of the Day After Tomorrow--a story of what it will be like for the men who cross the space frontier--a story that some of us will be *living* some day....
A PYRAMID BOOK 35c
COVER: JOHN SCHOENHERR
Printed in U.S.A.
Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors in the original text have been corrected in this eBook:
Page 18: "signficant" changed to "significant"
Page 43: single quotation mark changed to a double quotation mark
Page 69: "re-leatch" changed to "re-latch"
Page 70: "in" changed to "an"
Page 72: "Casseopia" changed to "Cassiopeia"
Page 73: "sitch" changed to "switch"
Page 75: "dopy" changed to "dopey"
Page 77: "thundrous" changed to "thunderous"
Page 78: missing quotation mark added; "dissappeared" changed to "disappeared"; "a" changed to "at"; "Were" changed to "We're"
Page 81: "Kuzack" changed to "Kuzak"
Page 85: "stear" changed to "steer"
Page 89: "Kuzaks" changed to "Kuzaks'"
Page 92: "asteriods" changed to "asteroids"
Page 104: missing quotation mark added; "summersaults" changed to "somersaults"
Page 107: "heathy" changed to "healthy"
Page 113: "asteriod-hoppers" changed to "asteroid-hoppers"
Page 115: "prismastic" changed to "prismatic"
Page 121: "guage" changed to "gauge"
Page 124: "exhude" changed to "exude"
Page 132: extra quotation mark removed
Page 137: "assteroid-hoppers" changed to "asteroid-hoppers"; "advertized" changed to "advertised"
Page 143: "milleniums" changed to "millenniums"
Page 145: "quandrant" changed to "quadrant"
Page 158: "fantasty" changed to "fantasy"
End of Project Gutenberg's The Planet Strappers, by Raymond Zinke Gallun