Marsden began to feel foolish but obliged her with a handstand. He lost his balance, though, before she could take the picture and tumbled flat on his back in the dusty street, landing so hard he saw stars. * * * * * A couple of men who had been watching from the hotel steps snickered. "I didn't know Marsden was an acrobat." "His old lady claims she's going to sell him to the interstellar circus when it comes around." "What do you say we give him a hand?" Marsden sat up, rubbed his head. One of the men came over and offered his arm. Cat-quick, Marsden leaped to his feet and thrust the man away from him so hard that he stumbled back, crashed against the bottom steps and fell. Something clicked, and Alice Cooper squealed excitedly: "I got it! That was perfect, Harry. Thank you ever so much. I caught it just after you started to shove him and now when my friends see this they'll know Talbor is a primitive place. Are there many murders here?" "I've never heard of one," said Harry, dusting his trousers off. "We're too busy for crime, I guess." "How terribly dull. Statistics show that more advanced societies are prone to higher crime rates, particularly crimes of passion, since everyone is high strung and capable of flying off the handle as the expression goes. Did you ever think of committing a crime of passion, Harry?" She stood there, small and frail in the sunlight, delicately, lushly curved. She wet her lips and they were very red in the sunlight and against her pale white face. "No," said Marsden thickly. "I'd better take you back inside to your friends, maybe." "Why, don't be ridiculous. See, they're all outside anyway." Marsden's gaze took in Talbor City's one street. The crowds had thinned considerably; people moved off toward the outskirts and the farmlands in twos and threes, the Earth people scattered among them and going to see Talbor with them. Marsden felt lost and alone and a little frightened, for he knew he would go off into the country-side with Alice Cooper in another moment, and he hardly trusted himself. "They're not my friends, Harry. We're traveling together, but we hardly know each other. You don't just make friends with anyone, it isn't civilized. People are always out to get you, to trick you, to make fun of you and take advantage of you. Oh, you've got to be careful, I always say. Shall we see Talbor now?" "I should go home and start plowing." "I'm leaving tonight, Harry." Her hand slipped under his arm and nestled there. His bare arm tingled. "What would you like to see?" he asked uncomfortably. * * * * * "Everyone has a different crop to grow," Marsden explained later. "On my farm it's barley." "Just barley? It must be rather dull, growing barley all year long." "We have some cattle and chickens, too. But I spend most of my time tending the irrigation ditches. Summertime it's a sunrise to sunset job."