l
you've come, and then balance one hundred and twenty days against ten
years."

"What? You mean you'll actually sit still for me holding everything up
for ten years?"

"You use the perpendicular pronoun too much and in the wrong places. On
the hits it's 'we', but on the flops it's 'I'. Quit it. Everything on
this job is 'we'. Terra's best brains are on Team One and are going to
stay there. You will not--repeat NOT--be interfered with, pushed around
or kicked around. You see, Bill, I know what you're up against."

[Illustration]

"Yes, I guess you do. One of the damned few who do. But even if you
personally are willing to give us ten years, how in hell do you think
you can swing it? How about the Navy--the Stretts--even the Board?"

"They're my business, Bill, not yours. However, to give you a little
boost, I'll tell you. With the Navy, I'll give 'em the Fuel Bin if I
have to. The Omans have been taking care of the Stretts for twenty-seven
hundred centuries, so I'm not the least bit worried about their ability
to keep on doing it for ten years more. And if the Board--or anybody
else--sticks their runny little noses into Project Theta Orionis I'll
slap a quarantine onto both these solar systems that a microbe couldn't
get through!"

"You'd go _that_ far? Why, you'd be ..."

* * * * *

"Do you think I wouldn't?" Hilton snapped. "Look at me, Junior!" Eyes
locked and held. "Do you think, for one minute, that I'll let anybody on
all of God's worlds pull _me_ off of this job or interfere with my
handling of it unless and until I'm damned positively certain that we
can't handle it?"

Karns relaxed visibly; the lines of strain eased. "Putting it in those
words makes me feel better. I _will_ sleep to-night--and without any
pills, either."

"Sure you will. One more thought. We all put in more than ten years
getting our Terran educations, and an Oman education is a lot tougher."

Really smiling for the first time in weeks, Karns left the office and
Hilton glanced again at his clock.

Pretty late now to see Teddy ... besides, he'd better not. She was
probably keyed up about as high as Bill was, and in no shape to do the
kind of thinking he wanted of her on this stuff. Better wait a couple of
days.

On the following morning, before breakfast, Theodora was waiting for him
outside the mess-hall.

"Good morning, Jarve," she caroled. Reaching up, she took him by both
ears, pulled his he