That was the gist of them all, except for one columnist’s item: “Ray McLafferty will gain a lot of momentum for the Senatorial elections this fall, if the Moon Dome hearings turn out half as popular as you’d think. Not to mention a well-known neighbor of Ray’s who has what you might call a small interest in persuading Congress that some of the Space Research funds could be better applied under water....” Harbridge chuckled. The day was not going to be so bad after all. “I hope it doesn’t get _too_ rough,” he said. “It’s what the man ordered,” Prentiss reminded him. “I know. I just hope it doesn’t get too rough. I forgot about McLafferty.” PART FIVE _August 24, 1977_ _Dollars Dome--6_ P.M. (_C.S.T._) They had buckled her into the comfortable safeness of the couch, and she had swallowed a pill, and then vaguely felt the faint prick in her arm. There had been dreams and dreamy times and maybe-dreams which were hard to sort out, but as she came more awake, she decided the truly-half-awake times had been only the ones where she swallowed what someone told her to, and float-walked to the toilet and back again. She was very hungry. Somebody came and unstrapped her arms, and left her to free herself after that from the rest of the fastenings. She sat up stiffly, stood up on prickling feet, and stepped into the corridor. A whitecoated young man looked horrified, came running at her. “Sorry, Miss, I didn’t think you’d be up so quick.” Vaguely, she recognized him--or his jacket?--as the one who’d unfastened her. Then, with a rush of clarity, she saw it was Johnny he’d been standing with down the corridor. She stepped forward and whitejacket caught her arm. “Steady--” “I’m all right.” She took another step, and the prickling began to ease. Johnny didn’t look any better than she felt. “Home was never like this,” she muttered. “Huh? Feeling rocky, babe?” His face was gray but he was a lot steadier on his feet. “Takes getting used to,” he said, but he didn’t sound as if it made much difference. He wasn’t even looking at her. He kept staring at the couch behind him. She stood still. _Getting my Moon legs_, she thought nervously, and wished the damn whitejacket character would go away, or Johnny would kiss her, or preferably both. “Hello?” she said, smallvoiced, and put her hand on his arm. “Hi, babe.” He turned and really looked at her this time, and closed his other hand over hers. “Better yet? I was just looking at this setup--didn’t get a chance when we boarded. It’s changed some since--They’ve improved it a lot, but it seems to me there should be something better than all this belt-and-buckle junk. There must be some kind of synthetic fabric that would do the job,” he said thoughtfully. “See, if you had--” _If I had half a brain_, she thought, turning the mounting irritation back on herself, _I’d have stopped to think_ I’m _not the one who needs coddling this time!_ “--made up into a net--soft enough for comfort, but rigid--”