"Really?" she looked at him in astonishment. "Tell me about it."

"Can't be done," he refused. "I don't know much about it--even they
didn't know any too much about some of it when I had to come in. And
what little I do know I can't tell, because it isn't mine."

"But you're working with them, aren't you?"

"Yes, in the sense that a small boy helps his father build a house.
They're the brains--I simply do some figuring that they don't want to
waste time doing."

Nadia, having no belief whatever in his modest disclaimer, but in secret
greatly pleased by his attitude, replied:

"Of course you couldn't say anything about an unfinished project--I
shouldn't have asked. Where do we go from here?"

"Down the lining of the hull, outside the passengers' quarters to the
upper dirigible projectors," and he led the way down a series of steep
steel stairways, through bulkheads and partitions of steel. "One thing
I forgot to tell you about--the detectors. They're worked on the same
principle as the lights, and are just about as efficient. Instead, of
light, though, they send out cones of electro-magnetic waves, which set
up induced currents in any conductor encountered beyond our own shell.
Since all dangerous meteorites have been shown to contain conducting
material, that is enough to locate them, for radio finders automatically
determine the direction, distance, and magnitude of the disturbance, and
swing a light on it. That was what happened when that light swung toward
us, back there in the prow."

"Are there any of those life-boats, that I've heard discussed so much
lately, near here?" asked the girl.

"Lots of 'em--here's one right here," and at the next landing he opened
a vacuum-insulated steel door, snapped on a light, and waved his hand.
"You can't see much of it from here, but it's a complete space-ship
in itself, capable of maintaining a dozen or fifteen persons during
a two-weeks' cruise in space."

"Why isn't it a good idea to retain them? Accidents are still possible,
are they not?"

"Of course, and there is no question of doing away with them entirely.
Modern ships, however, have only enough of them to take care of the
largest number of persons ever to be carried by the vessel."

"Has the _Arcturus_ more than she needs?"

"I'll say she has, and more of everything else, except room for
pay-load."

"I've heard them talking about junking her. I think it's a shame."

"So do I, in a way--you see, I helpe