"Of course you're interested," said Blades to Lieutenant Ziska. "I'll show you some gimmicks I thought up myself." Chung scowled at him. "We'd best divide the party and proceed along alternate routes," he said, "We'll meet again in the mess for coffee, Lieutenant Ziska, would you like to--" "Come with me? Certainly," Blades said. Chung's glance became downright murderous. "I thought--" he began. "Sure." Blades nodded vigorously. "You being the senior partner, you'll take the highest ranking of these gentlemen, and I'll be in Scotland before you. C'mon, let's get started. May I?" He offered the quartermistress his arm. She smiled and took it. He supposed that eight or ten of her fellows trailed them. * * * * * The first disturbing note was sounded on the verandah. [Illustration] They had glanced at the cavelike dormitories where most of the personnel lived; at the recreation dome topside which made the life tolerable; at kitchen, sick bay, and the other service facilities; at the hydroponic tanks and yeast vats which supplied much of the Station's food; at the tiny cabins scooped out for the top engineers and the married couples. Before leaving this end of the asteroid, Blades took his group to the verandah. It was a clear dome jutting from the surface, softly lighted, furnished as a primitive officers' lounge, open to a view of half the sky. "Oh-h," murmured Ellen Ziska. Unconsciously she moved closer to Blades. Young Lieutenant Commander Gilbertson gave her a somewhat jaundiced look. "You've seen deep space often enough before," he said. "Through a port or a helmet." Her eyes glimmered enormous in the dusk. "Never like this." The stars crowded close in their wintry myriads. The galactic belt glistened, diamond against infinite darkness. Vision toppled endlessly outward, toward the far mysterious shimmer of the Andromeda Nebula; silence was not a mere absence of noise, but a majestic presence, the seething of suns. "What about the observation terrace at Leyburg?" Gilbertson challenged. "That was different," Ellen Ziska said. "Everything was safe and civilized. This is like being on the edge of creation." Blades could see why Goddard House had so long resisted the inclusion of female officers on ships of the line, despite political pressure at home and the Russian example abroad. He was glad they'd finally given in. Now if only he could build himself up as a dashing, romantic type ... But how long would the _Altair_ stay? Her stopover seemed quite extended already, for a casual visit in the course of a routine patrol cruise. He'd have to work fast. "Yes, we are pretty isolated," he said. "The Jupiter ships just unload their balloons, pick up the empties, and head right back for another cargo." "I don't understand how you can found an industry here, when your raw materials only arrive at conjunction," Ellen said.