table over there? It's made to seat two, and there's just that one man
who eats alone."

Davis glanced over. "Oh, yes. But that's Mr. Jasperson! He likes to be
by himself."

"Who's Mr. Jasperson?"

"A very important man."

"And I'm not?"

Alan broke in. "Excuse me, Mr. Hall. I am Dr. Chase. Won't you join my
table? Three of the people assigned places there are Almazanians, a
diplomatic mission, I think, and they naturally prefer to have their own
cuisine in their own cabins, so we have room for three more."

"How about it, Steward," said Tom. "Any objections?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Davis strolled away.

Tom glared at the retreating back. "That guy has the face of a murderer.
He can't be decent to anybody with less than a million credits."

Dorothy laughed. "Never mind, Tom. Someday you'll be the most famous
lawyer in the Interstellar courts, and maybe you'll get a chance to
prosecute him for arson or treason."

Alan led them to the rear of the dining room, where his two table
companions were finishing the last sips of their coffee, and lighting
the first cigarette of the morning.

"Miss Taganova, may I present Tom and Dorothy Hall, who would like to
share our table."

Tanya lifted her beautiful auburn head and smiled a welcome. Professor
Larrabee stood up, his pink cheeks crinkling with pleasure as he shook
hands with Tom.

"Young people make the best companions," he said, "especially on long
journeys."

Alan sat down and reached for the vitamin dispenser. "These particular
young people want privacy. They're on their honeymoon, and would hardly
shed a tear if all the rest of the world suddenly ceased to exist."

"It's not quite like that, Dr. Chase," said Tom, his face reddening,
"but those people at our other table were just out of our class, one way
or another. The men talked all the time about their bank accounts, and
the women clawed at each other about which one had the biggest house,
and the biggest pearls and diamonds and emeralds, until we began to feel
smothered in a blanket of credits and diamonds."

"Credits and diamonds must be very nice things to have," said Tanya.
"I've never managed to collect many of either."

"I've nothing against them in themselves," said Tom, "but right now they
don't seem to matter very much. We had to wait five long years to be
married, five years for me to finish my law training, and for Dorothy to
wear out her family's opposition. They didn't want her to