"Possibly," Tom said with a smile. "I certainly won't refuse. What do you know?" "A lot of things," Ricky answered. He took a long drink. "Ah, that's good," he said. "You know, I been down talking to Graves again. We got that thing in the bag if we want it." His voice was off-hand, deliberately so, Tom knew. "We have?" Tom's voice also was careful. "Do you mean with or without the girl?" "Well ... You can't blame Graves for wanting to see his daughter settled. He figures that if she gets into a clan, maybe she'll calm down. And he could be right. Maybe she will; who knows? After all, she does want to come in. That must mean something." "Sure, it means something," Tom agreed, his voice slightly sardonic. "It means she wants to collect a whole clan. And as far as I am concerned, she's welcome to it--as long as it isn't the Vord one." "Look," Ricky swung up onto the edge of his chair, turning to face Tom and leaning towards him, "you're only seeing one side of this. You think Marcia's just looking for a thrill, for something new, and different--and that that's why she wants to join us. Maybe it is; I won't deny it. I don't happen to think that's the reason, but it could be. But what if it is? Why do we have to rear back and stand on our dignity? Why can't we take her in, let her have her thrill, and then get out. If a thrill is all she's looking for, she'll get out quick enough. Unless she gets converted--that could happen, too. What do we lose? "And look what we lose if we do sit blindly on our dignity," he went on with a rush. "The job at Midland's running out. Times are tough. There's not many openings for a bunch of wiring-assemblers. As it stands now, the choice is between Eltron Electric and Universal. Universal we can get with no strings, except that we have to go to Detroit--and except that it doesn't pay very well. "Eltron, on the other hand, is Graves; and Graves doesn't like the clans. He's never had anything to do with them. A Free-Laborite from way back. Only he's got a daughter, Marcia; and Marcia, bless her sweet little soul, wants to join a clan. So the old man's willing to take another look at things; he'll give us a contract when Marcia's a Vord, and it'll be a good contract. In fact, he'll damn near let us write it. What can we lose?" "You think we should take her in," Tom said. "Yes I do," Ricky answered. "Otherwise, we have to pull up stakes and move, and that job out at Universal is no picnic. We won't do much more than break even on it, and maybe it'll only last a few months; it's that kind of a thing." Tom smiled suddenly. "You are not quite consistent," he said. "You are worrying about Universal being temporary. And yet you brush aside the fact that Marcia may pull out. What would happen to us at Eltron if she did?" "I don't know," Ricky answered, unabashed. "Maybe by that time we'd have Graves convinced. Most guys who run companies get to like the idea of contracting the clans, when they give it a try."