"It's . . . impossible to describe." Her voice sounded empty, drained. "If I hadn't seen it ... if I didn't get it on film, I don't think I'd be able to convince myself that I wasn't dreaming."

Jill's voice rasped in his earphones. "Chet, get inside! This is against every safety reg, keeping her outside in the dark."

He looked toward the station. Lights were visible from the ports along its side. Otherwise he could barely make out its shape, even though it was only a few meters away.

"Okay, okay. Turn on the airlock lights so we can see the hatch."

Linda was still bubbling about the view outside long after they had pulled off their space suits and eaten sandwiches and cookies.

"Have you ever been out there?" she asked Jill. 86

Perched on the biomed lab's desk edge, near the mouse colony, Jill nodded curtly. "Eight times."

"Isn't it spectacular? I hope the pictures come out; some of my exposure settings ..."

"They'll be fine," Jill said. "And if they're not we have a backlog of photos you can use."

"Oh, but they wouldn't have the shots of Chet working on the power pod."

Jill shrugged. "Aren't you going to take more pictures in here? If you want to get some photos of real space veterans, you ought to take the mice here. They've been up here for six months now, living and raising families. And they don't make a fuss about it, either."

"Well, some of us do exciting things," Kinsman said lightly, "and some of us tend mice."

Jill glowered at him.

Glancing at his wristwatch. Kinsman said, "Ladies, it's my sack time. I've had a very trying day: mechanic, tour guide, photographer's model. Work, work, work."

He glided past Linda with a smile, kept it for Jill as he went by her. She was still glaring.

When he woke up again and went back into the main cabin, Jill was talking pleasantly with Linda as the two of them hovered over the microscope and a specimen rack at the biomed lab.

Linda saw him first. "Oh, hi. Jill's been showing me the spores she's studying. And I photographed the mice. Maybe they'll go on the cover instead of you."

Kinsman grinned. "She's been poisoning your mind against me." But to himself he wondered, Just what in hell has Jill been telling her?

Jill drifted over to the control desk and examined the mission log on the computer display screen,

"Ground control says the power pod checks out all okay," she said. "You did a good job."

"Thanks." He hesitated a moment. Then, "Whose turn in the sack is it?"

"Mine," Jill answered.

"Okay. Anything special?"

"No. Everything's on schedule. Next data transmission comes up in twelve minutes. Kodiak station," 87

Kinsman nodded. "Sleep tight."