He looked up reddening. "I hardly dared tell anyone. It was such a slender chance. I didn't see how I could possibly get through it--the psych part, particularly. I may have to go out and hang by my knees from the jets on the trips to keep myself from getting bored, but part of the test was interested in idle-time creativity, and they said I got through it better than anyone else--" She was staring at him, her eyes wide. "That means you'll be going into Dillon's crew--" "It means I have a chance! The final sifting hasn't been finished, there's a dozen more tests, a dozen performance checks, half a thousand conditioning tests I'd have to take--but don't you see what it means? It means I can go to space, Marny! It's a chance in a thousand, and it's mine! Dillon's cut the ice, he's had half a dozen ships up, but the real work's just begun. This puts me in on the ground floor, Marny. There's no end to the possibilities--" She stared at him wordlessly. "But they say Dillon's an exploiter, Bart--a madman. He's out for what he can make out of it, and nothing more. You can't trust a man like that...." Bart shrugged indifferently. "Stories," he said. "Dillon's a pioneer. Those who are afraid of space spread dirty stories, sure, but there's no proof. Anyway, I won't fly _with_ Dillon. He just builds the ships, and his ships are the finest that can be built--" "But Bart, it's a fool's errand!" The girl's eyes were huge, filling with tears. "You have a good job, a good home--you just _can't_ go--" He blinked at her, unbelieving. "With a chance like this? To go to space? I couldn't stay home--" She looked at him, and then at me, with the strangest baffled pain in her eyes. She looked, suddenly, as though the bottom had dropped out of her world. "You--you mean that, Bart?" The bafflement spread across Bart's face as he looked down at her. "Marny, I--I don't understand this. You know what I've wanted. I've told you time and again--" "Oh, yes, _talk_! But I never dreamed you _meant_ it! Everybody talks about going to space." "But not everyone gets the chance!" His voice was sharp in the still, hot room. "But only a fool would go!" "Then I'm a fool." He turned away, and sank down slowly in a chair. "I want it more than anything in the world." * * * * * The silence was deafening. When she spoke, her voice was hardly audible. "Then I guess that's all there is to it." "What do you mean?" "I mean if you go, we're through. That's all." Bart blinked, his face pale. I could see his knuckles whitening on the arms of the chair. "Marny, it's only a trip--" She was shaking her head, and her lower lip trembled. Her voice was weak, and very, very tired. "No, Bart, not just a trip. A dozen trips, or a thousand. It wouldn't make any difference." She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Bart. I couldn't do it. Across the country, across the ocean, yes. But space--no, I couldn't."