"But you've just come up here . . ."
She looked at him steadily. "He's going to recommend me. But the recommendation needs the base commander's approval. Will you turn it down?"
Trying to suppress a frown. Kinsman heard his own voice say, "Is that why you invited me over here? To cement the deal?"
Instead of getting angry, Diane broke into a grin. "You're still the total chauvinist, aren't you? You think I got Pierce's recommendation in bed."
"Did you?"
"That's none of your damned business," Diane replied, still looking smug. "But Harry was a fan of mine, you know, back Earthside. He collected my records."
"A patron of the arts."
"And it might further interest you to know," Diane continued haughtily, "that my aptitude scores and work records rate me higher than anyone else in the comm section —anyone who's staying here, that is," she finished more soberly.
He nodded. "A lot of them are going to want to go back home. Damned fools."
"You can't blame them, Chet."
"They'd be a lot safer here," he said.
Diane shook her head. "That's just logic. You're dealing with emotions."
"Panic."
"Very close to it," she agreed.
"What about you?" he asked. "What about your daugh- ter?"
"I don't know what to do," Diane said. "Could I get a few days off to return to Arizona and bring my daughter here?"
"You could ask the base commander for an emergency leave," Kinsman said. Before she could speak he added, "But you won't get it. You're going to stay here, Diane. Have your 361 daughter sent here; I'll okay that."
"But she's too young to travel by herself." "1 can get an Aerospace Force officer to bring her up here. But you're not going back Earthside," Kinsman said.
"It's too dangerous. The balloon could go up any minute.
You're staying here."
