at I've ever had
out here," he said, grimly. "And if Pallastown were destroyed, everybody
but the Tovies might as well go home from the Belt. The timing seems to
me to be about right. They'd risk it, feeling we're too scared to strike
back at home. The Jolly Lads--who are international--could be encouraged
to do the job for them."

Sudden hollows showed in Eileen's cheeks. "What are you going to do?"
she asked.

"Nothing much for me to do," he answered. "I only happened to notice,
while I was coming in to Pallas, that all the guard stations, extending
way out, were quietly very alert. But is that enough? Well, if they
can't cope with an attack, what good am I? We're vulnerable, here. I
guess we just sit tight and wait."

She smiled faintly. "All right--let's. Sit, relax, converse. Stop being
the Important Personage for a while, Frank."

"Look who's talking. Okay--what do you know that's new to tell?"

"A few things. I keep track of most everybody."

He took her slender hand, brown in his angular fist, that was pale from
his space gloves. "Gimp, first," he said.

"Still on Mercury, with Two-and-Two. Two-and-Two was a bricklayer, a
good beginning for a construction man. That seems to be paying off, as
colonists move in. Gimp is setting up solar power stations."

"Encouraging information, for once. Here's a hard one--Jig Hollis. The
real intelligent man who stayed home. I've envied him for years."

"Hmmm--yes, Frank. Intelligent, maybe--but he never quite believed it,
himself. His wife stayed with him, even after he turned real sour and
reckless. One night he hit a big oak tree with his car. Now, he is just
as dead as if he had crashed into the sun at fifty miles per second. He
couldn't take knowing that he was scared to do what he wanted."

"Hell!" Nelsen said flatly.

"Now who else should I gossip about?" Eileen questioned. "Oh, yes--Harv
Diamond, hero of our lost youth, who got space fatigue. Well, he
recovered and returned to active duty in the U.S.S.F. Which perhaps
leaves me with just my own love life to confess." She smiled lightly.
"Once there was a kid named Frankie Nelsen, who turned out to be a very
conscientious jerk. Since then, there have been scads of rugged,
romantic characters on all sides... You're going to ask about Miguel
Ramos."

She paused, looked unhappy and tired. "The celebrity," she said. "Mashed
up. But he'll recover--this time. I've seen him--sent him flowers, sat
beside him. But