do, _she_ won't be anything like _her_,"Eddie said, to the closing door.
And Deston, outside the door, grinned sardonically to himself. Beforehis next watch, Eddie would bring up one of the prettiest girls aboardfor a gold badge; the token that would let her--under approved escort,of course--go through the Top.
He himself never went down to the Middle, which was passenger territory.There was nothing there he wanted. He was too busy, had too manyworthwhile things to do, to waste time that way ... but the hunch wasgetting stronger and stronger all the time. For the first time in allhis three years of deep-space service he felt an overpowering urge to godown into the very middle of the Middle; to the starship's main lounge.
He knew that his hunches were infallible. At cards, dice, or wheels hehad always had hunches and he had always won. That was why he hadstopped gambling, years before, before anybody found out. He was thatkind of a man.
Apart from the matter of unearned increment, however, he always followedhis hunches; but this one he did not like at all. He had been resistingit for hours, because he had never visited the lounge and did not wantto visit it now. But _something_ down there was pulling like a tractor,so he went. He didn't go to his cabin; didn't even take off hisside-arm. He didn't even think of it; the .41 automatic at his hip wasas much a part of his uniform as his pants.
Entering the lounge, he did not have to look around. She was playingbridge, and as eyes met eyes and she rose to her feet a shock-wave sweptthrough him that made him feel as though his every hair was standingstraight on end.
"Excuse me, please," she said to the other three at her table. "I mustgo now." She tossed her cards down onto the table and walked straighttoward him; eyes still holding eyes.
He backed hastily out into the corridor, and as the door closed behindher they went naturally and wordlessly into each other's arms. Lips metlips in a kiss that lasted for a long, long time. It was not apassionate embrace--passion would come later--it was as though each ofthem, after endless years of bootless, fruitless longing, had comefinally home.
"Come with me, dear, where we can talk," she said, finally; eying withdisfavor the half-dozen highly interested spectators.
And a couple of minutes later, in cabin two hundred eighty-one, Destonsaid: "So _this_ is why I had to come down into passenger territory. Youcame aboard at exactly zero seven forty-three."
"Uh-uh." She shook her yellow head. "A few minutes before that. That waswhen I read your name in the list of officers on the board. FirstOfficer, Carlyle Deston. I got a tingle that went from the tips of mytoes up and out through the very ends of my hair. Nothing like when weactually saw each other, of course. We both knew the truth, then. It'swonderful that you're so strongly psychic, too."
"I don't know about that," he said, thoughtfully. "All my training hasbeen based on the axiomatic fact that the map is _not_ the territory.Psionics, as I understand it, holds that the map is--practically--theterritory, but can't prove it. So I simply don't know _what_ to believe.On one hand, I have had real hunches all my life. On the other, thesignal doesn't carry much information. More like hearing a siren whenyou're driving along a street. You know you have to pull over and stop,but that's all you know. It could be police, fire ambulance--_anything_.Anybody with any psionic ability at all ought to do a lot better thanthat, I should think."
"Not necessarily. You've been fighting it. Ninety-nine per cent of yourmind doesn't _want_ to believe it; is dead set against it. So it has toforce its way through whillions and skillions of ohms of resistance, soonly the most powerful stimuli--'maximum signal' in your jargon,perhaps?--can get through to you at all." Suddenly she giggled like aschoolgirl. "You're either psychic or the biggest wolf in the knownuniverse, and I know you aren't a wolf. If you hadn't been as psychic asI am, you'd've jumped clear out into subspace when a perfectly strangegirl attacked you."
"How do you know so much about me?"
"I made it a point to. One of the juniors told me you're the only virginofficer in all space."
"That was Eddie Thompson."
"Uh-huh." She nodded brightly.
"Well, is that bad?"
"Anything else but. That is, he thought it was terrible--outrageous--abetrayal of the whole officer caste--but to me it makes everything justabsolutely perfect."
"Me, too. How soon can we get married?"
"I'd say right now, except...." She caught her lower lip between herteeth and thought. "No, no 'except'. Right now, or as soon as you can.You can't, without resigning, can you? They'd fire you?"
"Don't worry about that," he grinned. "My record is good enough, Ithink, to get a good ground job. Even if they fire me for not waitinguntil we ground, there's lots of jobs. I can support you, sweetheart."
"Oh, I know you can. I wasn't thinking of _that_. You wouldn't _like_ aground job."
"What difference does that make?" he asked, in honest surprise. "A mangrows up. I couldn't have you with me in space, and I'd like that a lotless. No, I'm done with space, as of now. But what was that 'except'business?"
* * * * *
"I thought at first I'd tell my parents first--they're both aboard--butI decided not to. She'd scream bloody murder and he'd roar like a lionand none of it would make me change my mind, so we'll get marriedfirst."
He looked at her questioningly; she shrugged and went on: "We aren'twhat you'd call a happy family. She's been trying to make me marry anold goat of a prince and I finally told her to go roll her hoop--to geta divorce and marry the foul old beast herself. And to consolidate twoempires, he's been wanting me to marry a multi-billionaire--who is alsoa louse and a crumb and a heel. Last week he _insisted_ on it and I blewup like an atomic bomb. I told him if I got married a thousand times I'dpick every one of my husbands myself, without the least bit of help fromeither him or her. I'd keep on finding oil and stuff for him, I said,but that was all...."
"_Oil_!" Deston exclaimed, involuntarily, as everything fell into placein his mind. The way she walked; poetry in motion ... the oil-witch ...two empires ... more millions than he had dimes.... "Oh, you're BarbaraWarner, then."
"Why, of course; but my friends call me 'Bobby'. Didn't you--but ofcourse you didn't--you never read passenger lists. If you did, you'd'vegot a tingle, too."
"I got plenty of tingle without reading, believe me. However, I neverexpected to----"
"Don't say it, dear!" She got up and took both his hands in hers. "Iknow how you feel. I don't like to let you ruin your career, either, but_nothing_ can separate us, now that we've found each other. So I'll tellyou this." Her eyes looked steadily into his. "If it bothers you theleast bit, later on, I'll give every dollar I own to some foundation orother, I swear it."
He laughed shamefacedly as he took her in his arms. "Since that's theway _you_ look at it, it won't bother me a bit."
"Uh-huh, you _do_ mean it." She snuggled her head down into the curve ofhis neck. "I can tell."
"I know you can, sweetheart." Then he had another thought, and withstrong, deft fingers he explored the muscles of her arms and back. "Butthose acrobatics in plus gee--and you're trained down as hard and fineas I am, and it's my business to be--how come?"
"I majored in Physical Education and I love it. And I'm a Newmartian,you know, so I teach a few courses----"
"Newmartian? I've heard--but you aren't a colonial; you're as Terran asI am."
"By blood, yes; but I was born on Newmars. Our actual and legalresidence has always been there. The tax situation, you know."
"I don't know, no. Taxes don't bother me much. But go ahead. You teach afew courses. In?"
"Oh, bars, trapeze, ground-and-lofty tumbling, acrobatics, aerialistics,high-wire, muscle-control, judo--all that kind of thing."
"Ouch! So if you ever happen to accidentally get mad at me you'll tie meright up into a pretzel?"
"I doubt it; very seriously. I've tossed lots of two-hundred-poundersaround, of course, but they were _not_ space officers." She laughedunaffectedly as she tested his m
usculature much more professionally andmuch more thoroughly than he had tested hers. "Definitely I couldn't. Agood big man can always take a good little one, you know."
"But I'm not big; I'm just a little squirt. You've probably heard whatthey call me?"
"Yes, and I'm going to call you 'Babe', too, and mean it the same waythey do.