aks for two would go right on the expense
account. I mentally thanked Mr. Ravenhurst for the fine slab of beef
when the waiter finally brought it.

While we were waiting, though, I lit a cigarette and said: "You're
awfully quiet, Jack."

"Am I? Men are funny."

"Is that meant as a conversational gambit, or an honest observation?"

"Observation. I mean, men are always complaining that girls talk too
much, but if a girl keeps her mouth shut, they think there's something
wrong with her."

"Uh-huh. And you think that's a paradox or something?"

She looked puzzled. "Isn't it?"

"Not at all. The noise a jackhammer makes isn't pleasant at all, but
if it doesn't make that noise, you figure it isn't functioning
properly. So you wonder why."

Out of the corner of my eye, I had noticed a man wearing the
black-and-gold union suit of Ravenhurst's Security Guard coming toward
us from the door, using the gliding shuffle that works best under low
gee. I ignored him to listen to Jack Ravenhurst.

"That has all the earmarks of a dirty crack," she said. The tone of
her voice indicated that she wasn't sure whether to be angry or to
laugh.

"Hello, Miss Ravenhurst; Hi, Oak." Colonel Brock had reached the
table. He stood there, smiling his rather flat smile, while his eyes
looked us both over carefully.

[Illustration]

He was five feet ten, an inch shorter than I am, and lean almost to
the point of emaciation. His scarred, hard-bitten face looked as
though it had gotten that way when he tried to kiss a crocodile.

"Hello, Brock," I said. "What's new?"

Jack gave him a meaningless smile and said: "Hello, colonel." She was
obviously not very impressed with either of us.

"Mind if I sit?" Brock asked.

We didn't, so he sat.

"I'm sorry I missed you at the spaceport," Brock said seriously, "but
I had several of my boys there with their eyes open." He was quite
obviously addressing Jack, not me.

"It's all right," Jack said. "I'm not going anywhere this time." She
looked at me and gave me an odd grin. "I'm going to stay home and be a
good girl this time around."

Colonel Brock's good-natured chuckle sounded about as genuine as the
ring of a lead nickel. "Oh, you're no trouble, Miss Ravenhurst."

"Thank you, kind sir; you're a poor liar." She stood up and smiled
sweetly. "Will you gentlemen excuse me a moment?"

We would and did. Colonel Brock and I watched her cross the room and
disappear through a door. Then he turn