Pap Burton propped his head on a skinny elbow and stared deliberately at the green cone shapes of the Martian city behind his accuser.  He shoved the bottle of “kick” across the table.

     “What you want?” he demanded, dimly aware that the head showman, Johnny Johnson, had stepped inside the tent and was glaring at him.  They both had on heated spacesuits and masks with oxygen tanks.

     “I thought I told you to leave that poisonous Martian drink alone!”  Johnny towered over Pap like a mountain.  Pap shrugged his thin shoulders miserably.

     “So I drink too much!  You going to fire me from the show?”

     “No!  But you can't go on the stage looking like a haggard fool.”

     “I know,” Pap answered, sitting up on the cot inside the tent.  “Guess I haven't done anything but hold up the tour.  If you are going to make all the Martian cities, you'd better go without me.”

     “I'd like to,” Johnny answered, looking openly defiant through his space helmet, “but I can't abandon you in a Martian town.  You know that!  Some of the Martians haven't been so friendly.  They claim they'd like their independence, and sooner or later may be willing to fight for it.  You'd just better get to bed and sleep that ‘kick' drink off before it kills you.”

     Pap smiled after the retreating figure of Johnny.  Now there was a great guy!  He was always looking out for all the members of the show.  And quite a show it was!  A carnival on Mars was one of the best bets in the Universe.  At least he thought so.  Did the Martians like it?  They often went crazy with laughter, showing up by the hundreds at every performance in any town.  Johnny was also an unusual guy, running a completely honest show.  He said it created a good relationship with the former Earthmen, turned Martians.

     Pap ran a nervous right hand through his hair, picked up the bottle from the floor and smashed it on a corner post.  Funny, he thought, how a man could have a weakness and then hate himself because of it.  But without the liquor he went crazy inside like a man on fire.  Without it, he could never have gone on with the carnival act on Mars.  It gave him a nervous confidence that allowed him to face audiences.  But lately he had hit the bottle too often.  He knew he had to get away, to fight out his problem.  With unsteady fingers he fished a pencil out of his pocket and wrote I'm leaving, Johnny!  Don't want to be a drag on you any longer.  Good luck!  He pushed the paper aside and rose unsteadily to his feet.  Going to a corner of the tent, he picked up his lady.

     She was a robot nearly as tall as him.  She could walk, run, jump, turn flips, and even talk when he asked her a question.

     “Want to go along, Tolly?” he inquired.

     She nodded her blond pigtails when he moved his fingers along the base of her neck.

     “I'll go with you, Daddy!  Besides, I don't have much choice with you pulling me along.”

     “Good!” Pap said, smiling.  “At least I can depend on you, even if my brain is all fogged up with liquor.  We'll go out on the desert and think things out.”

     An hour later, Pap found himself clinging to a large boulder in a canyon with an icy howling wind throwing flurries of sand in his face.  He reached out and clutched Tolly to his chest as if to protect her.  “What's wrong, Pap?” she asked.

     “You know, Tolly!  Only a drunken fool would wander out on a cold Martian desert without any food or water.  I've come to my senses now but it's probably too late.  I'm going to die, Tolly!  You can save yourself because being cold or hungry won't bother you and you can make your way back to that city.”

     “I'll go,” she agreed.  She walked away and left him with his problems.

     Pap knew there was no use trying to think out his problem now.  But even in his tired old body he knew there was strength.  He would never give up trying to find his way back to the Martian city, not as long as he could move.  If he ever got back, he'd find Johnny and tell him that he was quitting the carnival for good and that he wanted to go back to Earth where he belonged.

     He left the boulder and struggled against the cold stinging wind and sand, trying to find his way out of the canyon.  He leaned forward, forcing himself to take one step after another, unable to see or move more than a few feet at a time.  The hours blended into each other in a monotonous pattern until he was nearly out of oxygen in his tank.  The wind finally died.  It was nearly sunset.  Pap sat down under a scraggly rock on the floor of the canyon, too tired to go further.

      Two hurtling moons whipped over the top of the canyon and then disappeared.  Pap felt terribly lonely and afraid.  He remembered what Johnny had said about the natives.  If they found him, he wouldn't stand much of a chance.  He found the night to be cruelly cold, and the oxygen in his tank difficult to breathe.  His throat felt dry and hoarse from lack of water.  But even worse, he missed the Martian “kick”.  He cursed himself because he had even thought about it.

     After a short nap, Pap struggled back to his feet.  He knew that he would freeze to death if he went to sleep.  He groaned and began to struggle forward again with grit.

     Just where they came from he had no idea.  Quite suddenly he found himself surrounded by a group of Earthmen who had sworn their allegiance to Mars—not Earth.  He knew this because of the rebel uniforms they wore.

     “You are from Earth,” a tall, savage-appearing man said who was obviously the leader.  “I am Macon, and we don't trust newcomers from Earth.  It appears that you are spying on us.  We will have to kill you!  You will come now to our headquarters.”

     “How did you find me out here?” Pap wanted to know.

     “We followed you!” Macon answered.  “We saw you leave the city and followed your trail.”

     Pap didn't say any more now.  He knew how many Martians felt.  They hated the Earthmen because they hadn't been granted independence.  They took him across the Martian desert canyon, half dragging him at times when his legs grew weak, causing him to falter.  He felt that he had already reached beyond the limits of his endurance.

     The sun finally broke over the horizon and flooded the area with red light.   They soon reached an outpost building that housed the Martian group.  When they took him inside, he fell into a corner, but was glad to be able to remove his helmet flap and breathe plenty of oxygen from inside the room.

     “So you finally showed up!” a familiar voice said scornfully.

     Pap looked across the room, too startled to believe his eyes.  Johnny Johnson was sitting there in a chair, glaring at him with accusing eyes.  Also, his hands and feet were tied with a rope.

     “How'd you get here?” Pap blurted out.

     “I saw your note.  Like a fool, I thought I'd rescue you out of this confounded desert!  The Martians caught me last night.”

     “Me, too!” Pap answered resignedly.  “You shouldn't have followed me way out here.  You've got responsibilities, the show and all.  Always looking out for everybody, aren't you?  You've got a weakness, too, and it's worse than mine.  Like that time five years ago on Earth!  You found me and Tolly going broke on a New Mexico farm.  You thought we had real talent and hired us for your show.  You should have left me be.”

     “I know!” Johnny answered.  “But it doesn't matter now.  The Martians will kill us.  As far as they're concerned, we are spies and that's it!  I should never have gone after you.”

     Pap shuddered.  “Anyway, Tolly and I are going to quit the carnival business if we ever get away from here alive.  Going to quit drinking, too, even if it tears my heart out.”

     They were startled when Macon clapped his hands and after getting everyone's attention gave an order.  “Line those two spies up against the wall.  I'll give the signal to shoot them.”

     Pap felt horrified.  It looked as if both Johnny and he would die in the next couple of minutes.  He tried to pray but the words would not come.  He looked at his companion.  The same frightened look covered Johnny's face.  What happened then was almost beyond anyone's belief.

     The door suddenly burst open and Tolly entered the room.  She moved forward in her robot stride and said, “Everyone stand still!  I came to rescue Pap, and Johnny too since he's here.”  She fired a ray gun in her hands and burnt up an empty chair.  “I'll kill anybody who makes a move to harm these two.”  The Martians stepped back, terrified over her threat.

     “I knew she could speak!” Johnny cried out, completely surprised.  “But this required her to think!  Can she do that?”

     “Sure!” Pap answered, grinning.  “But few people ever knew it.  In fact I'm the only one who did!”

     “Great jumping jacks!” Johnny answered.  “She sure fooled me, but I am happy about all this!”

     “We will now put on a carnival show for everyone,” Tolly said, pointing her weapon at the Martians.  “Come on, Pap!  You too, Johnny.”

     Pap went into his act with Tolly.  He chased after her, but she started pointing the gun at him.  She also turned flips, jumped high off the floor, and did all sorts of queer actions and antics.   Johnny ran out to calm her, but she squirted ketchup in his face.

     It was the best show Pap could remember.  He was happy now, probably the happiest man on Mars.  “We did it, Johnny.  But if Tolly hadn't done what she planned, we'd be dead by now!  We put on a great act here!  And I don't need any Martian ‘kick' either.  You know what that means?  I'm free!  I don't have to depend on liquor any more to put on a show.  And Tolly kept that gun in her hands the whole time.”

     “Then you and Tolly will stay?” Johnny asked hopefully.

     “We've got a tour to finish,” Pap answered, chuckling.  “Besides, the Martians won't be trying to kill us or other Earthmen if we keep them entertained.”

     Macon stepped forward and said, “You will come back, won't you?  Please keep your act going for us and others.”  He directed his remark at Johnny and Pap.

     “You can count on it,” Johnny answered.  “And we will bring Tolly, too.”