o himself that perhaps _all_ of his efforts on the Hill did
not go unnoticed in his home state, if most of them seemed to.

"What do you think, Senator, of the FCC's modified ruling on the
integrated lunar relay station plan?" another asked.

"I haven't had time to get fully acquainted with it," the senator
evaded, stepping onto the ground and out of the way of the ramp.

"Say, Senator, what about the Mars colony project?" a third put in.
"How come it's bogged down?"

"No comment at present," the senator said. But he gave them an
ambiguous little grimace which was meant to suggest a minor but sticky
snarl behind the scenes. He hoped it would satisfy them for the
moment.

Making his escape as quickly as possible, he climbed onto the shuttle
car already loaded down with the other passengers. Finding an empty
seat, he folded himself into it, and was immediately joined by someone
else.

"Well, Senator, how does it feel to be home?" his companion asked with
sympathetic irony.

Duran turned, grinned, and reached for the man's hand.

"Great, Wayne," he answered, recognizing an old friend who had been of
no small aid during his earlier years in politics. "Say, I'd ask you
over for dinner if we weren't going to the Governor's tonight. Molly
would love to see you. Unfortunately I'm leaving for Washington again
in the morning."

"Why doesn't Molly move to D.C. with you, Vance?" the journalist
asked.

Duran hesitated. "Maybe in a year or so. After the boys are out of
highschool. _If_ I get the job again."

The smile on the younger man's face was heartening.

"Don't play coy with me, Vance. You know you've got this state sewed
up." Then came the slight frown of doubt. "Just one thing, though. A
lot of people are wondering why the hold up on the colony project.
You're bound to get a little of the criticism. What the hell's wrong,
anyway?"

"Can't you guess?"

"Yeah. I can guess. There's only one possibility, since the government
scientists assure us they've ironed out all the technical wrinkles.
But it's pretty hard to believe that out of the thousands of people
who volunteer every week, not even a couple of hundred are
acceptable."

Duran considered his answer carefully before voicing it.

"Ever ask yourself _who_ volunteers, Wayne?"

The journalist looked at him oddly, then nodded.

* * * * *

The senator took an elevator directly to the helicopter landing on the
roof of the