come
over for a few minutes--"

Hockley had the jolting feeling that Waldon Thar would just as soon pass
up the opportunity for their meeting. Some of the enthusiasm went out of
his voice. "There's a good all-night inter-planetary eatery and bar on
the field there. I'll be along in fifteen minutes."

"Fine," said Thar, "but please try not to be late."

On the way to the field, Hockley wondered about the change that had
apparently taken place in Thar. Of course, _he_ had changed,
too--perhaps for much the worse. But Thar sounded like a stuffed shirt
now, and that is the last thing Hockley would have expected. In school,
Thar had been the most irreverent of the whole class of irreverents,
denouncing in ecstasy the established and unproven lore, riding the
professors of unsubstantiated hypotheses. Now--well, he didn't sound
like the Thar Hockley knew.

He took a table and sat down just as Thar entered the dining room. The
latter's broad smile momentarily removed Hockley's doubts. The smile
hadn't changed. And there was the same expression of devilish disregard
for the established order. The same warm friendliness. It baffled
Hockley to understand how Thar could have failed to remember Earth was
his home.

Thar mentioned it as he came up and took Hockley's hand. "I'm terribly
sorry," he said. "It was stupid to forget that Earth meant Sherman
Hockley."

"I know how it is. I should have written. I guess I'm the one who owes a
letter."

"No, I think not," said Thar.

They sat on opposite sides of a small table near a window and ordered
drinks. On the field they could see the vast, shadowy outline of the
Ryke vessel.

Thar was of a race genetically close to the Rykes. He lacked the
feathery covering, but this was replaced by a layer of thin scales,
which had a tendency to stand on edge when he was excited. He also wore
a breathing piece, and carried the small shoulder tank with a faint air
of superiority.

Hockley watched him with a growing sense of loss. The first impression
had been more nearly correct. Thar hadn't wanted to meet him.

"It's been a long time," said Hockley lamely. "I guess there isn't much
we did back there that means anything now."

"You shouldn't say that," said Thar as if recognizing he had been too
remote. "Every hour of our acquaintance meant a great deal to me. I'll
never forgive myself for forgetting--but tell me how you learned I was
aboard the Ryke ship."

"The Rykes have made us