 What would have happened if Ledman had stayed on Earth?
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. No, we had decided together to come to Mars—the way we decided together on everything. Maybe we shouldn't have come to Mars after all. I watched her, sleeping peacefully, a wayward lock of her soft blonde hair trailing down over one eyebrow, and it seemed hard to believe that we'd exchanged Earth and all it held for us for the raw, untamed struggle that was Mars. We had no ties on Earth that couldn't be broken without much difficulty. I thought I knew everyone on sparsely-settled Mars.
 He might not have needed a wheelchair long-term
 He would've managed to maintain leadership of his company  He might not have needed a wheelchair long-term  He would have joined the Project Sea-Dredge mission  He would've become more depressed and never found revenge