rugged. "It's too much to ask, I guess."

"But I can try," Blalok added.

"That's enough for me." Kennon grinned. "Has he turned Alexandria into a
shambles yet?"

"Not yet, but everyone's uneasy."

"I can't blame them. That young fellow's undiluted poison. By the way,
how does he look?"

"About the same."

"The medics must have done a good job," Kennon said.

"The Boss-man shipped him to Beta for treatment," Blalok said. "He
didn't trust the docs out here."

"That figures. At any rate Douglas couldn't have gone to a better
place."

"What happened to him?"

"He stuck his nose where he shouldn't," Kennon said pointedly.

Blalok stiffened.

"I'm sorry, Evald. Even if you knew, I couldn't talk about it. What I
know about Douglas is classified!"

"Well--Douglas is doing plenty of talking. Claims his stay in the
hospital was all your fault."

Kennon shrugged. "That's his opinion. And as long as he stays out of my
way he's welcome to it."

Blalok looked at Kennon's haggard face with mild concern, "Doc," he
said, "you'd better take it easy. You're going to pieces."

"I'll be through here in another week, I'll have this all wrapped up."

"Providing you're not wrapped up first."

"Eh?"

"In a shroud. You look like a walking corpse."

Kennon chuckled wearily. "Sometimes I feel like one. But I'd like to get
this job finished."

"Well, I'll do what I can," Blalok said. "I'll try to keep him down at
Alexandria for a few days."

"It'll be enough," Kennon said. More than enough--he added mentally.
The coils of fuel wire were ready to load, and the power slugs for the
ship's reactor were already stored in the power plant building here at
Olympus. Three more days and the old spacer would be as ready to fly as
she would ever be. And after that, it was in the lap of fate.

He ushered Blalok to his jeep and watched until he disappeared.

"I'm getting to be a first-class liar," he remarked wryly to himself
as he turned back to the temporary quarters he was occupying at the
station. "And the bad thing about it is that I'm actually enjoying it."

A few weeks ago an admission like that would have been inconceivable.
It was odd, he thought, how one thing led to another and produced an
end that could not be foreseen. Now he could lie and dissemble with the
best. He had no compunction about falsifying a requisition, or stealing
what he could not obtain with apparent honesty. His character had sunk
to an all-time l