nts," he waved at his console, "show that ours
is the only Operator Field in this whole region of space. Hence, there
are no Operators and no Primes. That means that from now until we get
back to Tellus...."

"_If_ we get back to Tellus," Belle corrected, sweetly.

"_Until_ we get back to Tellus there will be no Gunthering aboard this
ship...."

"_What?_" Belle broke in again. "Have you lost your mind?"

"There will be little if any lepping, and nothing else at all. At the
table, if we want sugar, we will reach for it or have it passed. We will
pick up things, such as cigarettes, with our fingers. We will carry
lighters and use them. When we go from place to place, we will walk. Is
that clear?"

"You seem to be talking English," Belle sneered, "but the words don't
make sense."

"I didn't think you were that stupid." Eyes locked and held. Then
Garlock grinned savagely. "Okay. You tell her, Lola, in words of as few
syllables as possible."

"Why, to get used to it, of course," Lola explained, while Belle glared
at Garlock in frustrated anger. "So as not to reveal anything we don't
have to."

"Thank you, Miss Montandon, you may go to the head of the class. All
monosyllables except two. That should make it clear, even to Miss
Bellamy."

"You ... you _beast_!" Belle drove a tight-beamed thought. "I was never
so insulted in my life!"

"You asked for it. Keep on asking for it and you'll keep on getting it."
Then, aloud, to all three, "In emergencies, of course, anything goes. We
will now proceed with business." He paused, then went on, bitingly, "If
possible."

"One minute, please!" Belle snapped. "Just why, Captain Garlock, are you
insisting on oral communication, when lepping is so much faster and
better? It's stupid--reactionary. Don't you ever lep?"

"With Jim, on business, yes; with women, no more than I have to. What I
think is nobody's business but mine."

"What a way to run a ship! Or a project!"

"Running this project is my business, not yours; and if there's any one
thing in the entire universe it does _not_ need, it's a female
exhibitionist. Besides your obvious qualifications to be one of the Eves
in case of Ultimate Contingency...." he broke off and stared at her, his
contemptuous gaze traveling slowly, dissectingly, from her toes to the
topmost wave of her hair-do.

"Forty-two, twenty, forty?" he sneered.

"You flatter me." Her glare was an almost tangible force; her voice was
controlled fur