"Careful, boy. She's my Captain, and a good one. I wouldn't ship out on the _Gordak_ if I didn't think so. Careful." Then Kevin smiled. "You'll learn, in time. Anyway, Charlie was a good-looker and attractive to the girls, he was romantic--so maybe T. J. fell for him, too. Then they had a parting of the ways and--" "Sure!" Steve exploded. "Sure, they fell in love or something only Charlie forgot to mention in any of his letters she was a woman. You're barking up the wrong tree, Kevin." "Maybe. Maybe not. I'm only talking off the top of my head, boy. But it's worth considering." Kevin jabbed a thick finger against his calloused palm. "What I'm getting at is this, whether they made love or not, I don't think T. J. would kill anyone out of cold blood." "I'll think about it," said Steve, and then a whistle shrilled through the length of the ship. They were nearing the space-station, half as far from Earth as Luna, and deceleration came upon them gradually and would continue to increase until they all had to bed down in the accel-hammocks for landing. Unexpectedly, Teejay herself was checking in the members of the expedition as their two-hour stop over at the station drew to an end. As he approached her along the gangplank, Steve looked down and saw the station-men wheeling the small but tremendously heavy plutonium bunkers under the ship, each compact unit weighing a couple of tons with its concrete shielding. "Well, Stedman," said the woman, the broad black sand-cape wrapped around her completely now, as if only the members of her crew had the right to see what lay beneath it, "I see you've never watched a ship getting ready for blast off." "That's right," Steve admitted. "First trip out." "You want some pretty sound advice? I'd suggest you stay here at the station and wait for the first Earthbound ship." "Thanks," said Steve. "But Mr. Carmical hired me at least as far as Mercury, so that's where I'm going." Teejay grinned. "You're a plucky kid, Stedman. All right, Mercury it is--but LeClarc can do the honors when it's time to see you off the _Gordak_ for good. He doesn't exactly like you, Stedman." "I've been told that." "All right, move along. There's a whole line of men I've got to check in behind you." A plucky kid, Steve thought, and laughed. She'd called him that, although he knew she'd probably have a hard time matching his twenty-five years. Well, she'd spent her life in space and on the frontier worlds. Maybe that did make a difference.