She went on by, and stopped at the booth occupied by Soleri. Quite obviously she was Randy. For a moment he regretted his decision to go in search of Laura. But only for a moment. Common sense told him he wouldn’t have a chance of taking a woman like that away from a vice-president of TRANSPORTATION. The company just happened to be the largest in existence. Still, it felt good to have a man of Soleri’s importance seek him out. He rolled the thought around in his mind. It was unquestionably true. Soleri had come looking for him. He knew it the way he knew so many things--without thinking, by feeling alone, by the ability to put himself in another’s place. By the time the thought had come full circle in his mind Randy and Soleri were gone. It was Laura now--or nothing. He went in search of her. She was not in any of the bars she usually frequented. She was nowhere. There could be no doubt that she was mad at him this time, and would be for weeks--even when she learned what he had coming up. She wanted to get married and was furious with him for daring to put her off. It took him quite a while to become absolutely convinced he wasn’t going to find her on what remained of his time, money, and drinking capacity. He started home and Laura slipped out of his mind. It certainly wasn’t accidental--his meeting with Soleri. Soleri had been looking for him. But why? How had he known where to look? Talbot couldn’t concentrate solidly on the problem. It was all he could do to figure out where the street was going to sway to next. One thing was certain. He’d have a lot of questions to ask Soleri in the morning. II Talbot dressed numbly. It was early, damned early, and his head throbbed. Aside from the physical discomfort involved he didn’t mind a hangover. He was more sensitive when he hung one on. He was going to need that sensitivity when he talked to Soleri. The man had a pretty phenomenal empathy index himself--say about 0.95. The more he thought about it the more certain he became that it must be at least 0.95. The executive had displayed uncanny acumen the night before. Talbot swung a rack out of the closet and automatically selected a light conservative suit. Soleri would expect him to dress conservatively. He didn’t care what Soleri thought, but it was a matter of pride with him to fit neatly into any situation. He dialed a cup of coffee, and then on second thought changed it to two cups, and gulped both of them. He studied his reflection in the mirror. It would do. He was the perfect picture of the successful executive. All he lacked was success. He resisted the impulse to phone Laura. He was convinced she wouldn’t answer at seven in the morning. Probably she wouldn’t answer later in the day. Maybe in a week he’d call her _after_ he got the job with TRANSPORTATION.