"But this was the first I realized he was really _serious_, Ben. Oh, you know how he talks." She stared at her cigarette for a long moment. "He's wonderful, Ben--" she said softly. "You know that, I think--" "He's the most wonderful guy alive." She looked up at me gratefully. "I think you mean that. I've known it--ever since our first date. He brought me into a new world, a completely new, wonderful, exciting world. I kept fooling myself that I could be part of it, I guess, that somewhere he could find a place for me there, too. He loves me, I'm sure of it--but I'm only part of his world, just one tiny little facet--" I snuffed out my smoke, and looked over at her. "And you?" I said. "What about your world?" Her voice was very low. "Bart's my world. All of it. Nothing else really makes much difference to me." I felt a little chill run up my back. "Which means?" "I want to marry him anyway. Even if he goes, I want to marry him." I stood up and walked across the room, my mind racing. "Are you here for advice, or did you just come to tell me this?" "Oh, Ben, I don't know! I can't think, I don't know what to do. Do you think it could work, Ben? Somehow, could we _make_ it work?" I looked at her for a moment. "I don't know. I haven't got the sort of mind Bart has, or the sort of makeup. I actually don't know what makes him go, Marny. But I know that there's a fundamental difference between us. Me, I'm not anxious to go anyplace. Give me a quiet, middle-class practice, and a home, and a wife, and a family, and I'll never want any more. Give the same to Bart and he'd die. Ever since I've known him his eyes have been on the stars. Can you understand that, Marny? That's his life, everything that he wants. He's been aiming at the stars since he was a kid, studying, working, getting into Rocket engineering, meeting people, talking--all with one idea. To get into space, to go places nobody has ever been. That's the kind of man Bart is. He's a wanderer, a rover. Tie him down and he'd die." I looked at her closely. "You'll kill him, Marny. No matter how much you try to give in, it'll be a losing game. It'll always be a fight between you, and going out on another trip. And you'll always lose. If you don't, you'll kill him. That's all there is to it." There were tears in her eyes. "What should I do, Ben?" "Tie him down, and he'll shrivel up and die. Turn him loose, and nothing in the universe can stop him. Let him go, Marny. Completely. You can find another life down here, the sort of life you need. But Bart could never find another life--" Her eyes were wide with pain and sadness. "There's no other way, Ben?" "If you love him, Marny, that's the only thing you can do--" * * * * *