Read the following passage and questions, then choose the right answer from options, the answer should be one of A, B, C, D.

<passage>:
screamed out to him in a thick, harsh cackle. Yet even as he screamed, relentlessly toward him. He awoke still screaming.... A night without darkness passed. Ben lay waiting for Maggie's return, a question already formed in his mind. Ben Curtis eased his pale, gaunt body through the open doorway of the She sat on the chair beside him. "My husband," she said softly. He began to understand. "And your husband needs an astrogator? That's "Who is he?" why you saved me?" "Where is he?" there, Ben saw moving figures. He could not tell if they were Earthmen, She cocked her head in mock suspicion. "Somewhere between Mercury and Pluto. He's building a new base for us—and a home for me. When his "Why aren't you with him now?" "We need all the good men we can get." Ben looked down. "I'm American," Ben muttered. wanted by the Bureau, but we make honest livings. We're just people like yourself and Jacob." "Jacob? Your husband?" She laughed. "Makes you think of a Biblical character, doesn't it? Jacob's anything but that. And just plain 'Jake' reminds one of a to Hoover City—except dead. The others are physical or psycho rejects "Don't the authorities object?" "Not very strongly. The I. B. I. has too many problems right here to Ben shook his head. He thought, She pursed her lips. "But if they guessed how strong we are or that we Ben scowled. "What happens if there The boy grabbed his hand. Because Ben could think of no reason for your own." Ben stiffened. "And that's why you want me for an astrogator." Maggie rose, her eyes wistful. "If you want to come—and if you get well." She looked at him strangely. "Suppose—" He fought to find the right words. "Suppose I got well and Several times, Ben glimpsed the bulky figures of CO Her thin face was criss-crossed by emotion—alarm, then bewilderment, then fear. "I don't know. That would be up to Jacob." unblinking. They certainly didn't look like telepaths, as Ben had heard that had coursed through her. they were, but the thought sent a fresh rivulet of fear down his spine. , Ben told himself. The officer passed. Ben breathed easier. Honesty, loyalty, duty. Trite words, but without those concepts, Without them, Everson, after three failures and a hundred men dead, Ben winced. How did this kid know he wanted to sit in the shadows? would never have landed on the Moon twenty-seven years ago. forgotten grandeur. For an instant, Ben's mind rose above the haunting vision of the dead felt the challenge of new worlds? the red beard. It's the only way you can escape the dead man. about forty and he hated spacemen. Luna City. But he'd become a kind of invisible Siamese twin, as much a part of Ben as sight in his eyes. Again, its face would be a pop-eyed mask of surprise as Ben's fist You can forget a living man. You can defeat him or submit to him or ignore him, and the matter is over and done. You can't escape from a been successful. Ben, quietly and moderately, wanted to celebrate. Ben smiled. "If it weren't for spacemen, you wouldn't be here." Ben stiffened. He was twenty-four and dressed in the white, At the age of five—perhaps in order to dull the memory of his parents' death in a recent strato-jet crash—he'd spent hours watching the night At sixteen, he'd spent every weekend holiday hitchhiking from Boys The guy's drunk , Ben thought. He took his drink and moved three Until this instant, Ben had suppressed his anger. Now, suddenly and without warning, it welled up into savage fury. Ben knew that he was dead. Then, for a single absurd second, Ben was seized with terror—just as, a moment before, he'd been overwhelmed with anger. Escaping at least gave him a power of choice, of decision. red-bearded giant. , Ben reflected, There was just one flaw in his decision. He hadn't realized that the memory of the dead man's face would haunt him, torment him, follow him So now he sat searching for a perhaps nonexistent red-bearded giant, and hoping and doubting and fearing, all at once. "This isn't my first night here," Ben lied. "I've been around a while." Ben didn't answer. Ben raised his hand as if to strike the boy. A sense of hopelessness gripped Ben Curtis. Hoover City was but one of reward must have been offered for his capture. Whom could he trust? The Like the uniform of a Security Policeman, he thought. wheel with Ben as their focal point. Light showered the room in a dazzling explosion. Ben, half blinded, Ben Curtis twisted his lean body erect. His chair tumbled backward, Ben's direction. Ben whirled away from the advancing police, made for the exit into A hissing sound traveled past his left ear, a sound like compressed air ahead of him crumbled. He stumbled forward. They were using deadly neuro-pistols now, not the , his brain screamed. He froze as if yanked to a stop by a noose. His body seemed to be growing, swelling into balloon proportions. He knew that the tiny needle had imbedded itself deep in his flesh, knew that the paralyzing body overpowered him. Then a pressure and a coldness were on his left hand. He realized that "You want to escape—even now?" "You may die if you don't give yourself up." "I'm sure," Ben managed to say. His mind fought to comprehend. With the anti-paralysis injection, within half a day. Without treatment, the paralysis could spread to weapon: the slightest wound compelled the average criminal to surrender He didn't hear the answer or anything else. Ben Curtis had no precise sensation of awakening. Return to nothingness to a dream-like state of awareness. He felt the pressure of hands on his naked arms and shoulders, sensitivity. He knew they were strong hands. Their strength seemed to But he heard someone say, "Don't try to talk." It was the same gentle voice he'd heard in the Blast Inn. "Don't talk. Just lie still and There were long periods of lethargy when he was aware of nothing. There Better , he'd think. "Why?" in readiness. He shook his head, not wanting it. "Why?" he asked again. A new thought, cloaked in sudden fear, entered his murky consciousness. She increased the pressure in his rubberex pillows and helped him rise to a sitting position. "Where are we?" he asked. "Venus." He looked at her, wondering. "You won't tell me?" can be had for a price." "You'll tell me your name?" "Maggie." "Why did you save me?" Her eyes twinkled mischievously. "Because you're a good astrogator." His own eyes widened. "How did you know that?" Fascinated, Ben nodded. because you're alive. Rest now. We'll talk again soon." "Maggie, you—you said I'd live. You didn't say I'd be able to walk again." "But you don't think I will, do you?" He tried to relax, but his mind was a vortex of conjecture. ask that? Finally she said, "He had a wife." "Children?" "Two. I don't know their ages." Ben stared at the photo for a long time. At length, he slipped into restless sleep. Images of faces and echoes of words spun through his down and beckoned to him. Ben crawled through the night on hands and

<question>:
What does Ben seem to fear, more than anything else?

<options>:
A The law, and atoning for his crime.
B Losing his position and the chance to fly spaceships.
C The dead man, and the way he persists in his mind.
D Maggie and her husband, and the position they've put him in.

<answer>:

B