On the last stroke the _Shooting Star_ fell silent except for the muffled roar of her tubes warming. At the same instant the crowd grew impossibly still. The raw fear, which had made itself felt in spite of the festivities, rode to the surface. The strange psychological dread of deep space. A woman in the relatives' stand suddenly buried her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking with violent sobs. She was the wife of the master mechanic on the third's watch. A gray-faced man moved towards the woman, patted her shoulders. Just then a continuous violent explosion shook the frail stand like an earth tremor. The _Shooting Star_ burst from the pits, trailing a comet-tail of orange flame. "Oh, my husband!" wailed the woman, "oh, my husband!" but her voice was drowned in the roar. * * * * * Jon Saxon threw off his safety belt, glanced across at the strained white face of Ileth Urban in the next acceleration chair. "Buck up," he grinned. "It's too late to change your mind now." The girl nervously tucked a curl in place, smiled uncertainly. "Heaven help me! Are we going to share all my thoughts during the rest of the voyage?" "Hell, no," said Saxon. "I want to preserve some of my illusions." He leaned towards her. "I'll strike a bargain with you, though. If you don't mention that I'm a telepath, I'll not report our--er--experience last night." "You mean you haven't said anything?" "No," said Saxon. "Why should I? I didn't have proof. Who'd want to tackle General Atomic without cast-iron evidence? On second thought, who'd want to tackle General Atomic at all? No one would believe me, anyway. Just like they won't believe you if you tell them I'm a telepath." Saxon could see the girl reach a decision. "Oh, I wouldn't say that," he broke in before she could voice her thought. "You've lots of other courses. You could snub me or spread tales behind my back." "I didn't say it!" she retorted hotly. "I thought it. My Lord, I can't even call my thoughts my own!" "Then it's a bargain." "I didn't say so." "No. But you've decided to...." She stamped her feet. "That's what I mean! That's what I mean!" "Calm down," he said. "Half the staff is staring at you." Ileth drew a deep breath, shrugged. A grim smile flashed across her pretty patrician features. "If you can stand it," she replied with an unexpected twinkle in her hazel-green eyes, "I suppose I can too." He stood up. "Like to meet the rest of the staff? Fine. You're all settled in your cabin, aren't you? No? Then I'll give you a hand as soon as we finish our tour of introduction." Ileth's eyes had grown darker and darker. "Now don't lose your temper," he said hastily. "I haven't said a damn word. At least let me get my answers out of my mouth." Saxon laughed, taking her arm. "Come along. We're accelerating at one G constant. We'll have no trouble moving around." He hesitated, then asked in an off hand manner, "Has Q62 identified himself yet?"