bit her lip. "You're too old for that mooncalf rot and youknow it."
"Agreed again. I feel more like a bull." Blades made pawing motions onthe desktop.
"There's a lady present," Chung said.
Blades saw that Avis had gone quite pale. "I'm sorry," he blurted. "Inever thought ... I mean, you've always seemed like--"
"One of the boys," she finished for him in a brittle tone. "Sure.Forget it. What's the problem, Jimmy?"
Chung folded his hands and stared at them. "I can't quite definethat," he answered, word by careful word. "Perhaps I've simply gonespacedizzy. But when we called on Admiral Hulse, and later when hecalled on us, didn't you get the impression of, well, wariness? Didn'the seem to be watching and probing, every minute we were together?"
"I wouldn't call him a cheerful sort," Blades nodded. "Stiff asmolasses on Pluto. But I suppose ... supposed he's just naturally thatway."
Chung shook his head. "It wasn't a normal standoffishness. You'veheard me reminisce about the time I was on Vesta with the NorthAmerican technical representative, when the Convention wasnegotiated."
"Yes, I've heard that story a few times," said Avis dryly.
"Remember, that was right after the Europa Incident. We'd come closeto a space war--undeclared, but it would have been nasty. We werestill close. Every delegate went to that conference cocked and primed.
"Hulse had the same manner."
* * * * *
A silence fell. Blades said at length, "Well, come to think of it, hedid ask some rather odd questions. He seemed to twist the conversationnow and then, so he could find things out like our exact layout,emergency doctrine, and so forth. It didn't strike me as significant,though."
"Nor me," Chung admitted. "Taken in isolation, it meant nothing. Butthese visitors today--Sure, most of them obviously didn't suspectanything untoward. But that Liebknecht, now. Why was he so interestedin Central Control? Nothing new or secret there. Yet he kept askingfor details like the shielding factor of the walls."
"So did Commander Warburton," Blades remembered. "Also, he wanted toknow exactly when the _Pallas_ is due, how long she'll stay ...hm-m-m, yes, whether we have any radio linkage with the outside, liketo Ceres or even the nearest Commission base--"
"Did you tell him that we don't?" Avis asked sharply.
"Yes. Shouldn't I have?"
"It scarcely makes any difference," Chung said in a resigned voice."As thoroughly as they went over the ground, they'd have seen what wedo and do not have installed so far."
He leaned forward. "Why are they hanging around?" he asked. "I washanded some story about overhauling the missile system."
"Me, too," Blades said.
"But you don't consider a job complete till it's been tested. And youdon't fire a test shot, even a dummy, this close to a Station.Besides, what could have gone wrong? I can't see a ship departingEarth orbit for a long cruise without everything being in order. Andthey didn't mention any meteorites, any kind of trouble, en route.Furthermore, why do the work here? The Navy yard's at Ceres. We can'tspare them any decent amount of materials or tools or help."
Blades frowned. His own half-formulated doubts shouldered to the fore,which was doubly unpleasant after he'd been considering Ellen Ziska."They tell me the international situation at home is O.K.," heoffered.
Avis nodded. "What newsfaxes we get in the mail indicate as much," shesaid. "So why this hanky-panky?" After a moment, in a changed voice:"Jimmy, you begin to scare me a little."
"I scare myself," Chung said.
"Every morning when you debeard," Blades said; but his heart wasn'tin it. He shook himself and protested: "Damnation, they're our owncountrymen. We're engaged in a lawful business. Why should they doanything to us?"
"Maybe Avis can throw some light on that," Chung suggested.
The girl twisted her fingers together. "Not me," she said. "I'm nopolitician."
"But you were home not so long ago. You talked with people, read thenews, watched the 3V. Can't you at least give an impression?"
"N-no--Well, of course the preliminary guns of the election campaignwere already being fired. The Social Justice Party was talking a lotabout ... oh, it seemed so ridiculous that I didn't pay muchattention."
"They talked about how the government had been pouring billions andbillions of dollars into space, while overpopulation produced cryingneeds in America's back yard," Chung said. "We know that much, even inthe Belt. We know the appropriations are due to be cut, now theEssjays are in. So what?"
"We don't need a subsidy any longer," Blades remarked. "It'd help alot, but we can get along without if we have to, and personally, Iprefer that. Less government money means less government control."
"Sure," Avis said. "There was more than that involved, however. TheEssjays were complaining about the small return on the investment. Notenough minerals coming back to Earth."
"Well, for Jupiter's sake," Blades exclaimed, "what do they expect? Wehave to build up our capabilities first."
"They even said, some of them, that enough reward never would begotten. That under existing financial policies, the Belt would go infor its own expansion, use nearly everything it produced for itselfand export only a trickle to America. I had to explain to several ofmy parents' friends that I wasn't really a socially irresponsiblecapitalist."
"Is that all the information you have?" Chung asked when she fellsilent.
"I ... I suppose so. Everything was so vague. No dramatic events. Moreof an atmosphere than a concrete thing."
* * * * *
"Still, you confirm my own impression," Chung said. Blades jerked hisundisciplined imagination back from the idea of a Thing, with bug eyesand tentacles, cast in reinforced concrete, and listened as hispartner summed up:
"The popular feeling at home has turned against private enterprise.You can hardly call a corporate monster like Systemic Developments aprivate enterprise! The new President and Congress share that mood. Wecan expect to see it manifested in changed laws and regulations. Butwhat has this got to do with a battleship parked a couple of hundredkilometers from us?"
"If the government doesn't want the asterites to develop muchfurther--" Blades bit hard on his pipestem. "They must know we have acaviar mine here. We'll be the only city in this entire sector."
"But we're still a baby," Avis said. "We won't be important for yearsto come. Who'd have it in for a baby?"
"Besides, we're Americans, too," Chung said. "If that were a foreignship, the story might be different--Wait a minute! Could they bethinking of establishing a new base here?"
"The Convention wouldn't allow," said Blades.
"Treaties can always be renegotiated, or even denounced. But first youhave to investigate quietly, find out if it's worth your while."
"Hoo hah, what lovely money that'd mean!"
"And lovely bureaucrats crawling out of every file cabinet," Chungsaid grimly. "No, thank you. We'll fight any such attempt to the lastlawyer. We've got a good basis, too, in our charter. If the suit istried on Ceres, as I believe it has to be, we'll get a sympatheticcourt as well."
"Unless they ring in an Earthside judge," Avis warned.
"Yeah, that's possible. Also, they could spring proceedings on uswithout notice. We've got to find out in advance, so we can prepare.Any chance of pumping some of those officers?"
"'Fraid not," Avis said. "The few who'd be in the know are safely backon shipboard."
"We could invite 'em here individually," said Blades. "As a matter offact, I already have a date with Lieutenant Ziska."
"What?" Avis' mouth fell open.
"Yep," Blades said complacently. "End of the next watch, so she canobserve the _Pallas_ arriving. I'm to fetch her on a scooter." He blewa fat smoke ring. "Look, Jimmy, can you keep everybody off the porchfor a while then? Starlight, privacy, soft music on the piccolo--whoknows what I might find out?"
"You won't get anything from _her_," Avis spat. "No secrets or, oranythi
ng."
"Still, I look forward to making the attempt. C'mon, pal, pass theword. I'll do as much for you sometime."
"Times like that never seem to come for me," Chung groaned.
"Oh,