id Quillan. "In any ordinary argument she could pull your
legs off and tie you up with them. Still, that wasn't bad. Have you
talked to anybody since you came on board?"

"Just the room stewardess. And a couple of old ladies in the next
cabin."

"Yeah," he said. "Couple of old ladies. What did you talk about?"

Trigger recounted the conversation. He reflected, nodded and stood up.

"I put a couple of suitcases in that closet over there," he said. "Your
personal stuff is in them, de-tracered. Another thing--somebody checked
over your finances and came to the conclusion you're broke."

"Not exactly broke," said Trigger.

Quillan reached into a pocket, pulled out an envelope and laid it on the
cabinet. "Here's a little extra spending money then," he said. "The
balance of your Precol pay to date. I had it picked up on Evalee this
morning. Seven hundred twenty-eight FC."

"Thanks," Trigger said. "I can use some of that."

They stood looking at each other.

"Any questions?" he asked.

"Sure," Trigger said. "But you wouldn't answer them."

"Try me, doll," said Quillan. "But let's shift operations to the
fanciest cocktail lounge on this thing before you start. I feel like
relaxing a little. For just one girl, you've given us a fairly rough
time these last forty-eight hours!"

"I'm sorry," Trigger said.

"I'll bet," said Quillan.

Trigger glanced at the closet. If he'd brought everything along, there
was a dress in one of those suitcases that would have been a little too
daring for Maccadon. It should, therefore, be just about right for a
cocktail lounge on the Dawn City; and she hadn't had a chance to wear it
yet. "Give me ten minutes to change."

"Fine." Quillan started toward the door. "By the way, I'm your neighbor
now."

"The cabin at the end of the hall?" she asked startled.

"That's right." He smiled at her. "I'll be back in ten minutes."

Well, that was going to be cosy! Trigger found the dress, shook it out
and slipped into it, enormously puzzled but also enormously relieved.
That Whatzzit!

Freshening up her make-up, she wondered how he had induced the Elfkund
ladies to leave. Perhaps he'd managed to have a better cabin offered to
them. It must be convenient to have that kind of a pull.

12

"Well, we didn't just leave it up to them," Quillan said. "Ship's
Engineering spotted a radiation leak in their cabin. Slight but
definite. They got bundled out in a squawking hurry." He added,