“I haven’t decided anything. I just want to know: where and how do I apply for employment around here? And _which_ is more to the point?” “You mean it?” The depression that had weighed on him for the past week, and had hung so thickly in the air all morning that it immobilized him, began to lift. “Damn it, that’s great! Never mind the employment office, you’re hired! How much do you want and--?” “Who-a-oa.... Like I said, first I want to know what I’m hired _for_.” “How do you mean?” Chris asked slowly. “We went all through that to start with...?” “That was the official request. Now suppose we lay it on the line for each other. I don’t think you’d sacrifice any work-time up here just to solve the pro-tem personnel problem. And I frankly would not be interested in giving up a fairly well-established and moderately lucrative Earthside practice, just to solve your hiring problems. You’ve got your own reasons, and I’ve got mine, but I think what we’re both interested in is finding out how to make human beings tolerate life off of Earth--here, or on Mars, or in a starship or any other place. Do I read you right, friend?” “Well--I’ll--be--damned!” He looked across the desk at the young doctor with a new respect. “Am I all _that_ transparent?” Phil smiled. “Let’s just say I’m a trained observer.” “No, I mean it,” Chris said earnestly. “Does it all show right out there on my face? I mean, I can see where you’d know what was going on--but I’d hate to think of some of these Decagon jerks or the buggers down in Accounting knowing everything I thought about--” “Relax, man! No, it doesn’t show that much, Chris. Like I said, I’m a trained observer, and--” He broke into laughter. “Don’t worry, Chris. Unless you go around feeding the Decagon boys the same stories you gave me, I doubt they’d be fretting about your intentions. You gave it away when you dragged Johnny into it. Or rather, you got me hooked that way, so it wasn’t too hard to figure maybe you _meant_ what you said. I don’t know if I’d have read it the same way at all, if I didn’t have this jazzy old Johnny-monkey on _my_ back--so to speak.” Well, what in hell did you say to something like that? “Oh! By the way--I have another note from Lisa today. Begins to look like they won’t make it at all, the rate he’s stalling.” He had a sudden worried thought. “I hope that wasn’t what you were counting on--?” “Noooooo. Tell you the truth, I never figured that was better than an outside chance. Last I heard, he still was flipping his lid if anyone even _talked_ about space. I don’t know how he’d face up to the trip out here.” “Yeah, I know.” He was thinking of Lisa’s frantic efforts to control the conversation that one night at their home--to keep away from _any_thing that bothered John. He scowled. “As a matter of fact you could’ve knocked me over with any handy feather when I got that first letter from him, but I guess--dammit!” He cut himself off, and switched on the reader speaker briefly.