 Why was Ben in search of the man with the red beard?
With never a moment to rest, the pursuit through space felt like a game of hounds and hares ... or was it follow the leader? Ben Curtis eased his pale, gaunt body through the open doorway of the Blast Inn, the dead man following silently behind him. At sixteen, he'd spent every weekend holiday hitchhiking from Boys Town No. 5 in the Catskills to Long Island Spaceport. So now he sat searching for a perhaps nonexistent red-bearded giant, and hoping and doubting and fearing, all at once. Each whiteness became brighter and closer, like shrinking spokes of a wheel with Ben as their focal point.
 He would then be able to escape the dead man.
 He was hoping to order a drink.  He was able to take him back to Mars.  He would be able to get away from the Martians playing sad music.  He would then be able to escape the dead man.