R obert Singh, sixty-year-old Captain of the space ship Goliath normally has a quiet duty assignment. His ship, stationed "equidistant from the sun and Jupiter," is one of two vessels posted for Spaceguard duty, and serviced by bimonthly "fast shuttle from Mars or the moon." The ship's computer, David, monitors the status of all systems and all routine personnel needs. Astrophysicists and astrogeologists attend to the monitoring of and occasional exploration of asteroids in the area assigned for observation.

Singh considers his job an out-of-theway position with command status but with little risk and thus, a very good career-capping assignment to hold before retirement.

A two-family man, Singh uses "memnochips" to recall the good times with his first wife, Freyda Carroll and their son Toby on Earth, and with his second wife, Charmayne Jorgen on Mars, with whom he has two children, Mirelle and Martin. Extended service in...