ave to act
such a purist that it takes months to find a research project for your
degree. Pick something--anything!--I don't care what it is. But if you
don't get a degree and an appointment out of the next session I don't
think we'll ever get married--not ever."

Cameron removed his pipe from his mouth with a precise grip and
considered it intently as it cupped in his hands. "I'm glad you
mentioned marriage," he said. "I was just about to speak of it myself."

"Well, don't!" said Joyce. "After three years--Three years!"

He turned to face her and smiled for the first time. He liked to lead
her along occasionally just to watch her explode, but he was not always
sure when he had gone too far. Joyce had a mind like a snapping, random
matching calculator while he operated more on a slow, carefully shaping
analogue basis, knowing things were never quite what they seemed but
trying to get as close an approximation of the true picture as possible.

"Will you marry me now?" he said.

The question did not seem to startle her. "No degree, no
appointment--and no chance of getting one--we couldn't even get a
license. I hope you aren't suggesting we try to get along without one,
or on a forgery!"

Cameron shook his head. "No, darling, this is a perfectly bona fide
proposal, complete with license, appointment, the works--what do you
say?"

"I say this spring sun is too much for you." She touched the dark mass
of his hair, warmed by the sun's rays, and put her head on his shoulder.
She started to cry. "Don't tease me like that, Cameron. It seems like
we've been waiting forever--and there's still forever ahead of us. You
can't do anything you want to--"

Cameron put his arms about her, not caring if the whole Institute
faculty leaned out the windows to watch. "That's why you should
appreciate being about to marry such a resourceful fellow," he said more
gently. And now he dropped all banter. "I've been thinking about how
long it's been, too. That's why I decided to try to kill a couple of
sparrows with one pebble."

Joyce sat up. "You aren't serious--?"

Cameron sucked on his pipe once more. "Ever hear of the Markovian
Nucleus?" he said thoughtfully.

Joyce slowly nodded her head. "Oh, I think I've heard the name
mentioned," she murmured, "but nothing more than that."

"I've asked for that as my research project."

"But that's clear out of the galaxy--in Transpace!"

"Yes, and obviously out of bounds for the ordinary