onsidering Ellen Ziska.
"They tell me the international situation at home is O.K.," he
offered.

Avis nodded. "What newsfaxes we get in the mail indicate as much," she
said. "So why this hanky-panky?" After a moment, in a changed voice:
"Jimmy, you begin to scare me a little."

"I scare myself," Chung said.

"Every morning when you debeard," Blades said; but his heart wasn't
in it. He shook himself and protested: "Damnation, they're our own
countrymen. We're engaged in a lawful business. Why should they do
anything to us?"

"Maybe Avis can throw some light on that," Chung suggested.

The girl twisted her fingers together. "Not me," she said. "I'm no
politician."

"But you were home not so long ago. You talked with people, read the
news, watched the 3V. Can't you at least give an impression?"

"N-no--Well, of course the preliminary guns of the election campaign
were already being fired. The Social Justice Party was talking a lot
about ... oh, it seemed so ridiculous that I didn't pay much
attention."

"They talked about how the government had been pouring billions and
billions of dollars into space, while overpopulation produced crying
needs in America's back yard," Chung said. "We know that much, even in
the Belt. We know the appropriations are due to be cut, now the
Essjays are in. So what?"

"We don't need a subsidy any longer," Blades remarked. "It'd help a
lot, but we can get along without if we have to, and personally, I
prefer that. Less government money means less government control."

"Sure," Avis said. "There was more than that involved, however. The
Essjays were complaining about the small return on the investment. Not
enough minerals coming back to Earth."

"Well, for Jupiter's sake," Blades exclaimed, "what do they expect? We
have to build up our capabilities first."

"They even said, some of them, that enough reward never would be
gotten. That under existing financial policies, the Belt would go in
for its own expansion, use nearly everything it produced for itself
and export only a trickle to America. I had to explain to several of
my parents' friends that I wasn't really a socially irresponsible
capitalist."

"Is that all the information you have?" Chung asked when she fell
silent.

"I ... I suppose so. Everything was so vague. No dramatic events. More
of an atmosphere than a concrete thing."

* * * * *

"Still, you confirm my own impression," Chung sa