e.

Then the tension began to build again. I don't think any of the crew
talked to any of our group. And yet, there seemed to be a chain of
rumor that exchanged bits of information. Only the crew could have
seen the dead plants being carried down to our refuse breakdown plant;
and the fact it was chromazone poisoning must have been deduced from a
description by some of our group. At any rate, both groups knew all
about it--and a little bit more, as was usual with rumors--by the
second day.

Muller should have made the news official, but he only issued an
announcement that the danger was over. When Peters, our
radioman-navigator, found Sam and Phil Riggs smoking and dressed them
down, it didn't make Muller's words seem too convincing. I guessed
that Muller had other things on his mind; at least he wasn't in his
cabin much, and I didn't see Jenny for two whole days.

My nerves were as jumpy as those of the rest. It isn't too bad cutting
out smoking; a man can stand imagining the air is getting stale; but
when every unconscious gesture toward cigarettes that aren't there
reminds him of the air, and when every imagined stale stench makes him
want a cigarette to relax, it gets a little rough.

Maybe that's why I was in a completely rotten mood when I finally did
spot Jenny going down the passage, with the tight coveralls she was
wearing emphasizing every motion of her hips. I grabbed her and swung
her around. "Hi, stranger. Got time for a word?"

She sort of brushed my hand off her arm, but didn't seem to mind it.
"Why, I guess so, Paul. A little time. Captain Muller's watching the
'ponics."

"Good," I said, trying to forget Muller. "Let's make it a little more
private than this, though. Come on in."

She lifted an eyebrow at the open door of my cabin, made with a little
giggle, and stepped inside. I followed her, and kicked the door shut.
She reached for it, but I had my back against it.

"Paul!" She tried to get around me, but I wasn't having any. I pushed
her back onto the only seat in the room, which was the bunk. She got
up like a spring uncoiling. "Paul Tremaine, you open that door. You
know better than that. Paul, please!"

"What makes me any different than the others? You spend plenty of time
in Muller's cabin--and you've been in Pietro's often enough. Probably
Doc Napier's, too!"

Her eyes hardened, but she decided to try the patient and
reason-with-the-child line. "That is different. Captain Muller and