said. "I'll wait."

She swept Kathi with a glance of amused confidence and walked away. It seemed to Dudley that she made sure the three young men followed her with their eyes; but then he was kicking off for Mars within twenty-four hours, so he could hardly object to that.

"Have you changed your mind?" demanded Kathi with a fierce eagerness.

"Not so loud!" hushed Dudley. "About what? And how did you get that rig?"

Had he been less dismayed at her presence, he might have remarked that the tight dress only emphasized her immaturity, but she gave him no time to say more.

"About Mars, Dudley. Can't you take me? I'm afraid those illegitimate blood-suckers are going to send after me. They could sniff out which way a nickel rolled in a coal-bin."

"Aren't you just a shade young for that kind of talk?"

"I guess I'm a little frightened," she admitted.

"You frighten me, too," he retorted. "How are you ... I mean, what do you—?"

She tossed her blonde hair.

"There are ways to get along here, I found out. I didn't get arrested this time, did I? So why can't you take a chance with me to Mars?"

"Take an eclipse on that," said Dudley with a flat sweep of his hand. "It's just out of the question. For one thing, there are four of us going, and you can't hide for the whole trip without somebody catching on."

"All right," she said quietly. "Why not?"

"What do you mean, 'Why not?'"

"I'm willing to earn my passage. What if there are four of you?"

For a long moment, Dudley discovered things about himself, with the sudden realization that the idea appealed to some suppressed part of his mind. He had never kidded himself about being a saint. The thing had possibilities. Maybe one of the others can be talked into restraint into her.

He snapped out of it. "Don't be a little fool!" he grated. "If you want my advice, you'll—."

"Well, I don't want your goddam advice! If you're too yellow to try it, I'll find somebody else. There'll be another rocket after yours, you know. Maybe they'll have a man on it!"

He felt his face go white and then flush as he stared at her. He did not know what to say. She looked like a child, but the outburst was more than a mere tantrum.

Sounds as if she's never been crossed before, he thought. I ought to haul off and slap a little self-restraint into her.

Instead, he beckoned to the three men, who had been edging closer with aggrieved expressions.

"How about taking your girl friend along?" he said flatly.

One of them took her by the elbow and tried to murmur something in her ear, but Kathi shook him off.

"If you are afraid for your license, Dudley, I'll say I hid without your knowing it. I'll say one of the others let me in. Please, Dudley. I'm sorry I talked to you like that."

She was making a fool of him, and of herself, he decided. And in another minute, she would spill the whole thing, the way she was sounding off. And her friends were beginning to look hostile as it was.

"What's the trouble?" asked one of them.

"Nothing that won't clear up if you pour a couple of drinks into her," said Dudley disgustedly.

He walked away, and they held her from following.

"Dudley!" she yelled after him. "They'll send me back! Please, Dudley. I won't go. You remember what I said about going back—."

Her voice was getting too shrill. Someone in the group must have put his hand over her mouth, for when Dudley looked back, they were rounding a corner of the corridor more or less silently.

Eileen waited in the half-open door, watching him quizzically. "Friend of yours?" she drawled.

"After a fashion," admitted Dudley, pulling out a handkerchief to wipe his forehead. "Spoiled brat!"

He fumbled in a pocket of his jacket, and withdrew a small package. "Here's the bracelet that matches that necklace," he said. "I knew I had it in my locker somewhere."

Her