making the attempt. C'mon, pal, pass the
word. I'll do as much for you sometime."

"Times like that never seem to come for me," Chung groaned.

"Oh, let him play around with his suicide blonde," Avis said
furiously. "We others have work to do. I ... I'll tell you what,
Jimmy. Let's not eat in the mess tonight. I'll draw our rations and
fix us something special in your cabin."

* * * * *

[Illustration]

A scooter was not exactly the ideal steed for a knight to convey his
lady. It amounted to little more than three saddles and a locker, set
atop an accumulator-powered gyrogravitic engine, sufficient to lift
you off an asteroid and run at low acceleration. There were no
navigating instruments. You locked the autopilot's radar-gravitic
sensors onto your target object and it took you there, avoiding any
bits of debris which might pass near; but you must watch the distance
indicator and press the deceleration switch in time. If the 'pilot was
turned off, free maneuver became possible, but that was a dangerous
thing to try before you were almost on top of your destination.
Stereoscopic vision fails beyond six or seven meters, and the human
organism isn't equipped to gauge cosmic momenta.

Nevertheless, Ellen was enchanted. "This is like a dream," her voice
murmured in Blades' earplug. "The whole universe, on every side of us.
I could almost reach out and pluck those stars."

"You must have trained in powered spacesuits at the Academy," he said
for lack of a more poetic rejoinder.

"Yes, but that's not the same. We had to stay near Luna's night side,
to be safe from solar particles, and it bit a great chunk out of the
sky. And then everything was so--regulated, disciplined--we did what
we were ordered to do, and that was that. Here I feel free. You can't
imagine how free." Hastily: "Do you use this machine often?"

"Well, yes, we have about twenty scooters at the Station. They're the
most convenient way of flitting with a load: out to the mirrors to
change accumulators, for instance, or across to one of the companion
rocks where we're digging some ores that the Sword doesn't have. That
kind of work." Blades would frankly rather have had her behind him on
a motorskimmer, hanging on as they careened through a springtime
countryside. He was glad when they reached the main forward air lock
and debarked.

He was still gladder when the suits were off. Lieutenant Ziska in
dress uniform was