 What likely happens to Val and Ron after the story ends?
The planet itself was tough enough—barren, desolate, forbidding; enough to stop the most adventurous and dedicated. Nothing but what had stopped us could stop a sandcat: sand in the delicate mechanism of the atomic engine. When Val's tired and overwrought there's no sense in arguing with her. We knew the pay was poor, but we had felt it a sort of obligation, something we could do as individuals to keep the industries of radioactives-starved Earth going. The geiger kept up a fairly steady click-pattern, but never broke into that sudden explosive tumult that meant we had found pay-dirt. It had been spun on us only a short time ago, I realized.
 They stay on Mars for their contract and then move on to a different project
 They stay on Mars for their contract and then move on to a different project  They go back to earth to make sure Ledman gets the care he needs  They decide to stay on Mars forever  They stay on Mars for a few more weeks before heading back to Earth