thousand American dollars for every one
of the future formulas I had assured them I could get to. I came out
with the knowledge that I'd be a watched man from now on.

In Switzerland, Jean said, "Well--?"

"I'm ready to go home," I told her.

"America, you mean?"

"Where else?"

"I've been alone," she said, "and thinking. I've gone back to Sunset and
Pacific Coast Highway and traced it all forward from there. And I don't
think America's your home."

Very cool her voice, very tense her face. I smiled at her.

She didn't smile in return. "Fred--we're married."

"I'm glad," I said. "Aren't you?"

"It's no time for the light touch." Tears in her eyes. "Fred, are you
a--a Russian spy?"

I shook my head.

"But--"

It was a clear night, and I went to the window. How it shone, in that
clear air. Jean came over to stand next to me.

I pointed, and said, "There's my home."

"Venus," she said. "Fred, for heaven's sake--_I'm serious_!"

"Some day," I said, "this planet will learn how to see through our
manufactured fog. Some day they will develop the vision we developed a
century ago. And--"

"Damn it, Fred, be serious. If you'd know what I've gone through, alone
here, thinking back on all the crazy things you've said and done. What
have you told me about yourself, what do I know?"

"Nothing," I said. "And what have I asked you about yourself? It's a
matter of faith, Jean."

"Faith? Running all over the country like fugitives, financed by those
damned diamonds, nosing into this and into that, and then running off to
Russia, all alone. _With what you'd learned, Fred?_"

I shook my head, resentment stirring in me.

"Remember when we met? In Santa Monica--right there, next to the beach.
You didn't have a thing but the clothes on your back and a bagful of
diamonds. Was it a sub that brought you that far, Fred?"

"No," I said, "and you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me, and see," she said. She was rigid, and near hysteria.

"All right. I came there in a space sphere from Venus."

She started to sob, a wild, lonely sound and I moved forward to take her
in my arms.

Her fingers clawed my face, her high heel smashed my instep. "Get out,"
she screamed, "get out, get out, get out--"

I got out. I went to the first floor washroom and cleaned up my bloody
face, and then went into the bar. This was one habit I'd picked up on
the planet.

When I came up to the suite, later, I didn't even check to s