psychic or the biggest wolf in the known
universe, and I know you aren't a wolf. If you hadn't been as psychic as
I am, you'd've jumped clear out into subspace when a perfectly strange
girl attacked you."

"How do you know so much about me?"

"I made it a point to. One of the juniors told me you're the only virgin
officer in all space."

"That was Eddie Thompson."

"Uh-huh." She nodded brightly.

"Well, is that bad?"

"Anything else but. That is, he thought it was terrible--outrageous--a
betrayal of the whole officer caste--but to me it makes everything just
absolutely perfect."

"Me, too. How soon can we get married?"

"I'd say right now, except...." She caught her lower lip between her
teeth and thought. "No, no 'except'. Right now, or as soon as you can.
You can't, without resigning, can you? They'd fire you?"

"Don't worry about that," he grinned. "My record is good enough, I
think, to get a good ground job. Even if they fire me for not waiting
until we ground, there's lots of jobs. I can support you, sweetheart."

"Oh, I know you can. I wasn't thinking of _that_. You wouldn't _like_ a
ground job."

"What difference does that make?" he asked, in honest surprise. "A man
grows up. I couldn't have you with me in space, and I'd like that a lot
less. No, I'm done with space, as of now. But what was that 'except'
business?"

* * * * *

"I thought at first I'd tell my parents first--they're both aboard--but
I decided not to. She'd scream bloody murder and he'd roar like a lion
and none of it would make me change my mind, so we'll get married
first."

He looked at her questioningly; she shrugged and went on: "We aren't
what you'd call a happy family. She's been trying to make me marry an
old goat of a prince and I finally told her to go roll her hoop--to get
a divorce and marry the foul old beast herself. And to consolidate two
empires, he's been wanting me to marry a multi-billionaire--who is also
a louse and a crumb and a heel. Last week he _insisted_ on it and I blew
up like an atomic bomb. I told him if I got married a thousand times I'd
pick every one of my husbands myself, without the least bit of help from
either him or her. I'd keep on finding oil and stuff for him, I said,
but that was all...."

"_Oil_!" Deston exclaimed, involuntarily, as everything fell into place
in his mind. The way she walked; poetry in motion ... the oil-witch ...
two empires ... more millio