"But certainly." The headwaiter was gone into the throng. Johnson was at the bar. Behind it, a Venusian was bowing to him. "Tarmur," Johnson said. The green drink was set before him. He held it up to the light, admiring the slow rise of the tiny golden bubbles in it. To him, watching the bubbles rise was perhaps more important than drinking itself. "Beautiful, aren't they?" a soft voice said. He glanced to his right. A girl had slid into the stool beside him. She wore a green dress cut very low at the throat. Her skin had the pleasant tan recently on Earth. Her hair was a shade of abundant brown and her eyes were blue, the color of the skies of Earth. A necklace circled her throat and below the necklace ... Johnson felt his pulse quicken, for two reasons. Women such as this one had been quickening the pulse of men since the days of Adam. The second reason concerned her presence here in this place where no woman in her right mind ever came unescorted. Her eyes smiled up at him unafraid. Didn't she know there were men present here in this space port city who would snatch her bodily from the bar stool and carry her away for sleeping purposes? And Venusians were here who would cut her pretty throat for the sake of the necklace that circled it? "They _are_ beautiful," he said, smiling. "Thank you." "I was referring to the bubbles." "You were talking about my eyes," she answered, unperturbed. "How did you know? I mean...." "I am very knowing," the girl said, smiling. "Are you sufficiently knowing to be here?" For an instant, as if doubt crossed her mind, the smile flickered. Then it came again, stronger. "Aren't you here?" Johnson choked as bubbles from the tarmur seemed to go suddenly up his nose. "My dear child ..." he sputtered. "I am not a child," she answered with a firm sureness that left no doubt in his mind that she knew what she was saying. "And my name is Vee Vee." "Vee Vee? Um. That is...." "Don't you think it's a nice name?" "I certainly do. Probably the rest of it is even nicer." "There is no more of it. Just Vee Vee. Like Topsy, I just grew." * * * * * "What the devil are you doing here on Venus and here in this place?" "Growing." The blue eyes were unafraid. Sombrely, Johnson regarded her. What was she doing here? Was she in the employ of the Venusians? If she was being planted on him, then his purpose here was suspected. He shrugged the thought aside. If his purpose here was suspected, there would be no point in planting a woman on him. There would only be the minor matter of slipping a knife into his back. In this city, as on all of Venus, humans died easily. No one questioned the motives of the killer. "You look as if you were considering some very grave matter," Vee Vee said. "Not any longer," he laughed. "You have decided them?" "Yes." "Every last one of them?"