"Like the way the Hoffman Center sets itself up as judge and jury and makes a chosen people out of you. Not out of me. Oh, no, I won't stand a chance when the time comes. Not my old man, either. He tried for a retread, and they turned him down flat. Psychopathic inferior, they called him. He had to die. I'll have to die, too. But sooner or later they're going to find something wrong with the setup, and when they do, all hell is going to break loose, and they'll cut it out altogether, just like they tried to do at the first, and then there won't be any more snakes like you walking around with your pretty green stripes. Just one thing's got to go wrong, that's all." Her face was bitter. "How does it feel to be the Lord Master, buster? What are you so scared of? Or hasn't it been all it's cracked up to be?" Griffin closed his eyes tiredly. "I think we'll get along better if you'll just state your business and get out. What do you want?" "I want you, buddy." "What do you know about me?" His eyes snapped open sharply. She made a bored face. "Mister, I don't know you from Adam's off ox. All I know about you is the little green stripe on your arm." "So I'm a Free Agent." "That's all I need. A Free Agent. Any Free Agent will do." He shook his head. "No dice. I don't get mixed up in any shady deals." Quite suddenly the bitterness and contempt were gone from the girl's face, and only the fear remained, a craven, hopeless kind of fear. "There's nothing shady about it, Mister. Nothing bad, nothing you can't do, I swear it. Just going aboard a rocket ship for an inspection tour. Is there anything wrong with that? So you take a friend aboard with you. Then you walk off again. Is there anything wrong with that?" Griffin blinked at her. There was no denying the desperation in her voice, the fear in her eyes. Griffin's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "What rocket are you talking about?" "The Venus Rocket. It leaves tonight. I want on board it." "Why?" "Maybe I like Venus. Maybe I don't like it here. Maybe I've got to get away. Take your choice." "What about the Colonization Board?" Her eyes were dark with fear. "They'd never let me aboard. I wouldn't dare apply. They'd find out--things--on my record here." His mouth hardened. "You mean they'd turn you over." "Well, maybe they would," she snarled. "What are you doing, playing cop or something? Look, I want on that rocket. I've got to get aboard it. You're a Free Agent. You can go wherever you like--and so can anyone who's with you, if you vouch for him. They can't touch you. And you're scared, you've been scared ever since you left the Records Bureau last night. It sticks out all over you--" "All right, maybe I am!" "Maybe you want something."