rtment. His skill at the game
continued to increase; it was, he saw, just like astrogation, and with
growing confidence he learned to project his moves three and sometimes
four numbers ahead.

On a warm night in mid-July the proprietor of the games hall Alan
frequented most regularly stopped him as he entered.

"You're Donnell, aren't you?"

"That's right. Anything wrong?"

"Nothing much, except that I've been tallying up your take the past two
weeks. Comes to close to three thousand credits, altogether. Which means
you're not welcome around this parlor any more. Nothing personal, son.
You'd better carry this with you next time out."

Alan took the little card the proprietor offered him. It was made of
gray plastic, and imprinted on it in yellow were the letters, CLASS B.
He had been promoted.

_Chapter Thirteen_

Things were not quite so easy in the Class B games parlors. Competition
was rough. Some of the players were, like Alan, sharp newcomers just up
from the bottom of the heap; others were former Class A men who were
sliding down again, but still did well enough to hang on in Class B.
Every day, some of the familiar faces were gone, as one man after
another failed to meet the continuing qualifications for the
intermediary class.

Alan won fairly steadily--and Hawkes, of course, was a consistent winner
on the Class A level. Alan turned his winnings over to the older man,
who then allowed him to draw any cash he might need without question.

The summer rolled on through August--hot and sticky, despite the best
efforts of the local weather-adjustment bureau. The cloud-seeders
provided a cooling rain-shower at about 0100 every night to wash away
the day's grime. Alan was usually coming home at that time, and he would
stand in the empty streets letting the rain pelt down on him, and
enjoying it. Rain was a novelty for him; he had spent so much of his
life aboard the starship that he had had little experience with it. He
was looking forward to the coming of winter, and with it snow.

He hardly ever thought of the _Valhalla_. He disciplined himself to keep
thoughts of the starship out of his mind, for he knew that once he began
regretting his decision there would be no stopping. Life on Earth was
endlessly fascinating; and he was confident that someday soon he would
get a chance to begin tracking down the Cavour hyperdrive.

Hawkes taught him many things--how to wrestle, how to cheat at cards,
how t