ld--but as it is, the
answer is a definite, resounding, and final '_No_'."

"'Definite' and 'resounding,' yes. 'Final,' I won't accept. I'll wait."

"You'll wait a long time, Buster. My door will be locked from now on.
Good night, Doctor Garlock, I'm going to bed."

"So am I." He walked with her along the corridor to their rooms, the
doors of which were opposite each other. "In view of the Code, locking
your door is a meaningless gesture. Mine will remain unlocked. I invite
you to come in whenever you like, and assure you formally that no such
entry will be regarded as an invasion of privacy."

Without a word she went into her room and closed the door with a
firmness just short of violence. Her lock clicked sharply.

* * *

The next morning, after breakfast, James followed Garlock into his room
and shut the door.

"Clee, I want to tell you.... I don't want to get sloppy but...."

"Want to lep it?"

"Hell, no!"

"It's about Brownie, then."

"Uh-huh. I've always liked you immensely. Admired you. Hero, sort
of...."

"Yeah. I quote. 'Harder than Pharaoh's heart.' 'Colder than frozen
helium,' and all the rest. But this thing about Brownie...." He reached
out; two hard hands met in a crushing grip. "How could you possibly lay
off? Just the strain, if nothing else."

"A little strain doesn't hurt a man unless he lets it. I've done without
for months at a stretch, with it running around loose on all sides of
me."

"But she's so ... she's got _everything_!"

"There speaketh the ensorcelled bridegroom. For my taste, she hasn't.
She told you, I suppose, when explaining a certain fact, that I told her
she wasn't my type?"

"Yes, but...."

"She still isn't. She's a very fine person, with a very fine
personality. She is one of the two most nearly perfect young women of
her race. Her face is beautiful. Her body is an artist's dream. Her mind
is one of the very best. Besides all that, she's a very good egg and a
mighty tasty dish. But put yourself in my place.

* * *

"Here's this paragon we have just described. She has extremely high
ideals and she's a virgin; never really aroused. Also, she's so full of
this sickening crap they've been pouring into us--propaganda,
rocket-oil, prop-wash, and psychological gobbledygook--that it's running
out of her ears. She's so stuffed with it that she's going to pair with
you, ideals and virginity be damned, even if it