The stains would go away, and his hair
would grow back in a few weeks.
Santos, now officially a sergeant, was in the same condition. The rest of
Rip's Planeteers had resumed duties on the space platform. He saw them
frequently, because they made a point of dropping in whenever they were
near the hospital area.
Koa looked out at the asteroid. "I sort of hate to see that rock cut up.
There isn't much about a chunk of thorium to get sentimental over, but
after fighting for it the way we did, it doesn't seem right to cut it
into blocks."
"I know how you feel," Rip admitted, "but, after all, that's what we
brought it back for."
He studied Koa's dark face. The sergeant major had something on his mind.
"Got vack worms chewing at you?" he asked. Vack worms were a spaceman's
equivalent of "the blues."
"Not exactly, sir. I happened to overhear the doctor talking today.
You're due for a leave in a week."
"That's good news!" Rip exclaimed. "You're not unhappy about it, are
you?"
Koa shrugged. "We were all hoping we'd be together on our next
assignment. The gang liked serving under you. But we're overdue for
shipment to somewhere, and if you take eight weeks' leave, we'll be gone
by the time you come back to the platform.
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