even tell us that?”
“You may examine the holo Louis Wu is carrying. That is the only information I can give you at this time.”
Louis handed her the holo, the one that showed a baby-blue stripe crossing a black background behind a disc of blazing white. She took her time looking it over; and only Louis noticed how the angry blood flowed into her face.
When she spoke, she spit the words out one at a time, like the seeds of a tangerine. “This is the most ridiculous thing I ever heard of. You expect Louis and me to go charging out beyond known space with a kzin and a puppeteer for company, and all we know about where were going is a length of blue ribbon and a bright spot! That’s—ridiculous!”
“I take it, then, that you refuse to join us.”
The girl’s eyebrows went up.
“I must have a direct answer. Soon my agents may locate another candidate.”
“Yes,” said Teela Brown. “Yes, I do refuse.”
“Remember, then, that by human law you must keep secret the things you have been told here. You have been paid a consultant’s fee.”
“Who would I tell?” Teela laughed dramatically. “Who would believe me? Louis, are you really going on this ridiculous—”
“Yes.” Louis was already thinking of other things, like a tactful way to get her out of the office. “But not right this minute. There’s still a party going on. Look, do something for me, will you? Switch the musicmaster from tape four to tape five. Then tell anyone who asks that I’ll be out in a minute.”
When the door had closed behind her, Louis said, “Do me a favor. Do yourselves one, too. Let me be the judge of whether a human being is qualified for a jaunt into the unknown.”
“You know what qualifications are paramount,” said Nessus. “We do not yet have two candidates to choose from.”
“You’ve got tens of thousands.”
“Not really. Many disqualify themselves; others cannot be found. However, you may tell me where that human being fails to fit your own qualifications.”
“She’s too young.”
“No candidate can qualify without being of Teela Brown’s generation.”
“Breeding for luck! No, never mind, I won’t argue the point. I know humans crazier than that. A couple of ’em are still here at the party…Well, you saw for yourself that she’s no xenophile.”
“Nor is she a xenophobe. She does not fear either of us.”
“She doesn’t have the spark. She isn’t—isn’t—”
“She has no restlessness,” said Nessus. “She is happy where she is. This is indeed a liability. There is nothing she wants. Yet how could we know this without asking?”
“Okay, pick your own candidates.” Louis stalked from his office.
Behind him the puppeteer fluted, “Louis! Speaker! The signal! One of my agents has found another candidate!”
“He sure has,” Louis said disgustedly. Across the living room, Teela Brown was glaring at another Pierson’s puppeteer.
Louis woke slowly. He remembered donning a sleep headset and setting it for an hour of current. Presumably that had been an hour ago. After the set turned itself off the discomfort of having the thing on his head would have wakened him…
It wasn’t on his head.
He sat up abruptly.
“I took it off you,” said Teela Brown. “You needed the sleep.”
“Oh boy. What time is it?”
“A little after seventeen.”
“I’ve been a bad host. How goes the party?”
“Down to about twenty people. Don’t worry, I told them what I was doing. They all thought it was a good idea.”
“Okay.” Louis rolled off the bed. “Thanks. Shall we join what’s left of the party?”
“I’d like to talk to you first.”
He sat down again. The muzziness of sleep was slowly leaving him. He asked, “What about?”
“You’re really going on this crazy trip?”
“I really am.”
“I don’t see why.”
“I’m ten times your age,” said Louis Wu. “I don’t have to work for a living. I don’t have the patience to be a scientist. I did some writing once, but it turned out to be hard work, which was the last thing I expected. What’s left? I play a lot.”
She shook her head, and firelight shivered on the walls. “It doesn’t sound like playing.”
Louis shrugged. “Boredom is my worst enemy. It’s killed a lot of my friends, but it won’t get me. When I get bored, I go risk my life somewhere.”
“Shouldn’t you at least know what the risk is?”
“I’m getting well paid.”
“You don’t need the money.”
“The human race needs what the puppeteers have got. Look, Teela, you were told all about the second quantum hyperdrive ship. It’s the only ship in known space that moves