"Probably just as well, if you express such unorthodox opinions freely," she replied sitting between them at the table. "However, we have a long journey ahead, might as well begin to know each ... as we really are." Her smile was an adventure, and when she turned her head to survey Palanth with frank curiosity, Mark noted that her hair escaping the tight-fitting kepis was almost the color of dark honey in the sun. "A long journey...." Palanth murmured as he picked absorbedly at something on his plate that resembled purple pop-corn. "A long journey, where ... how, and to what end?" "What are you eating?" Doctor Fortun asked almost too casually, instead of replying. "These? Oh, candied violets," Palanth's languid pose had returned aware that many eyes were upon him in the crowded energy center. "Don't you have enough perfume as it is without eating it too?" Mark growled. "Peace, O spawn of unthinkable misfortune!" Palanth said grandly and filled his mouth with the delicacy. * * * * * Doctor Fortun laughed aloud, it was like the tintinnabulation of clustered silver bells. "Fraud!" she exclaimed amiably. "If I were not acquainted with your past record I'd think you were a fop. Does that pose ever fool anybody, Palanth?" The tall Martian grinned shrugging his shoulders. "Who knows? _It's been so long since I've had adventure for a bride!_" He quoted a line from the famous Terran poet of the twenty-first century. "He's done it so long, it's become second nature with him," Mark said inelegantly. "However, the perfume business is no pose. Wait till you see his collection of extracts!" Palanth glared at him, but remained silent. Just then a growing tremor shook the energy center, and one of the walls split from floor to ceiling. Their table fell with a crash and the hum of the food conveyors ceased. Voices rose in startled exclamations and the crash of other tables added to the increasing noise. A convulsive heave rent the floor and the continuous series of audio-pictures on the visi-screen ceased abruptly. After what seemed an eternity, in reality seconds, the quake subsided, leaving wreckage behind and the pale, strained faces of the guests. "Even here in North America, the very heart of the World State, the quakes are increasing," Doctor Fortun said thoughtfully. "Our estimates gave us eight more weeks before the proximity of the comet neutralized astro-warp evacuation. It seems hardly possible, but there may be elements in the situation we have failed to calculate. I believe the sooner we complete evacuation the better it'll be." She glanced at Mark speculatively. "I suggest you read your orders this evening, once you're registered at International House, Spacer Lynn." "That's my plan," Mark told her. "And speaking of unknown elements, I'm still puzzled at being attacked by an International today. I was unaware that I had enemies on Terra. What could the motive have been?"