"Think we don't feel the same way?" said the redhead angrily. "You knew the way it would be when you entered the contest--" "Your green eyes are showing, dear," said the blonde, helping herself to some of Cleveland's lipstick. "Green eyes, my elbow!" the redhead exploded. "I could get _fifty_ of these space jockeys to squire me around. You think it's so hard? But I had to come a thousand miles for these lousy finals, and I'm not stupid enough to risk everything for a guided tour with some shavetail--" "Don't protest so much!" the blonde jeered. * * * * * The redhead shrieked, dropped her brush, and started for the blonde. Luckily, Maria, a hefty brunette with a voluptuous figure, stepped between them. "Cut it out!" she pleaded. "It'll be lights out in a little while. Fight it out in the day-time." "I don't want any trouble," the blonde said petulantly. "I just want a little fun." "All right," said the redhead. "Let's forget it. I guess we're all just tired." She seated herself again and stroked her hair lazily with the brush. "And we've got quite a day tomorrow." "You said it," agreed the girl called Cleveland. She picked up a mimeographed sheet from the table and read from it aloud. "Eight-thirty, breakfast and initial briefing by Captain Johannson. Ten o'clock, basic questionnaire. Eleven o'clock, physical examination. Twelve o'clock, lunch. Two o'clock, domestic science test. Four o'clock, photography." She looked up at the others pathetically. "Isn't that awful?" "Sounds okay to me," said the blonde, putting the final touches on her outfit by stringing gold bracelets up and down her arm. "Except that domestic science business. I burn water." "Then you might as well go home," said the redhead sardonically. "You've got to be a Betty Crocker to win _this_ clambake. Along with everything else." "It's the stiffest beauty contest _I_ ever saw," said the hefty brunette wistfully. "Honestly, I've won a couple back home, and all I had to do was--well, you know--kind of parade around a little." "Well, this is an _important_ contest," said the blonde. "I mean," she added hastily, on seeing the hurt look cross Maria's face, "this is a _big_ contest. You know what you get if you're Miss Outer Space?" "We know the prizes by heart, honey," said the redhead. "Why else do you think we're here?" "It's rough, though," Cleveland admitted, turning the paper over and reading the agenda marked SECOND DAY. "Look what happens Tuesday. Ten o'clock, endurance test. What do you suppose they mean by that?" "I don't know," the redhead shrugged. "But it sure doesn't sound so good." "And listen to this one. Three o'clock, outer-space question period. What about that?" "But I don't _know_ anything about outer space," the big brunette complained. "It just isn't fair!" "Maybe it won't be so bad," Cleveland said comfortingly. "After all, the judges must know that we're not astronomers or anything--"