ild's mind in a woman's body. Jane Kelvey is an oversexed
witch with an indecent exposure complex. I may have trouble with her.
Already she's parading around in skimpy shorts and a bra. Evidently
Murdo doesn't care for women. He pays no attention to her. Money and
power are his dish. And a terrible restlessness.

Melody baby--I wish you were here--

_June 4th, 3:00 p. m._

I had a talk with Murdo about this silly cruise. Tried to swing him
onto something that makes a little more sense. Pluto, Venus,
Ganymede--some hunting ground I'm familiar with. No good. Even a
suggestion and he thinks you're crossing him and snorts like a bull.
Still demands to go to this place where big game prowls in space.
Where elephants and leopards and snakes and anything you can name fly
around your ship and look in your ports. Where you do your hunting in
space suits right out in the void.

Why in hell did I fall for this idiocy? Guess I just didn't care.
Maybe I thought it was a good idea because it sounded like a cruise
you could get killed on without much trouble. No--I shouldn't say
that. Melody wouldn't like me to say it. She was so wonderful--so
level-headed. How wrong they all were about us. About her. Because she
was so beautiful, I guess. I tried to tell them I'd married an angel
and they took bets among themselves on how long it would last. The
answer to that would have been forever. It still is. I've lost so much
and learned so much in such a very short time. The hell with Murdo and
his four puppets. I'll take them out and bring them back. Then I'll go
somewhere alone and I won't come back at all.

Melody.

Course 28.493 by the polar angle. Went through small asteroid
field....

* * * * *

Kennedy looked up sharply. He frowned. "This log is unacceptable."

Holloway was pacing the floor, his eyes blank and terrible
"Unacceptable?"

"Course and position should be noted within each twenty-four hour
period. You missed June 5th entirely. You--" Kennedy leafed through
the pages. "Why at times you missed three and four days in sequence!"

"Sometimes I didn't have time to write."

Mason tried to hide his disgust. How did men like Kennedy get into
positions they weren't fitted for? The ass! Couldn't he see this man
was suffering? Mason said, "Why not reserve comment until you've
finished, Mr. Kennedy?"

Kennedy's eyes widened at the sharp tone of Mason's voice. Really.
When residents start