A World Is Born

Mel Gray flung down his hoe with a sudden tigerish fierceness and stood erect. Tom Ward working beside him glanced at Grays Indianesque profile the youth of it hardened by war and the hells of the Eros prison blocks.A quick flash of satisfaction crossed Wards dark eyes. Then he grinned and said mockingly.Hell of a place to spend the rest of your life aint it?Mel Gray stared with slitted blue eyes down the valley. The huge sun of Mercury seared his naked body. Sweat channeled the dust on his skin. His throat ached with thirst. And the bitter landscape mocked him more than Wades dark face.The rest of my life he repeated softly. The rest of my life!He was twenty-eight.Wade spat in the damp black earth. You ought to be glad -- helping the unfortunate building a haven for the derelict. . . .