She put a hand on his shoulder. "Chet ... I know this is all a game to you, but people can get hurt at this kind of game and . . . well . . . nothing in life is ever as good as you expect it will be."
Looking into her intent brown eyes. Kinsman felt his irritation vanish. "Okay, little sister. Thanks for the philoso- phy. I'm a big boy, though, and I know what it's all about."
"You just think you know."
Shrugging, "Okay, I think I know. Maybe nothing is as good as it ought to be, but a man's innocent until proven guilty, and everything new is as good as gold until you find some tarnish on it. That's my philosophy."
"All right, slugger." Jill smiled ruefully. "Be the ape man. Fight it out for yourself. I just don't want to see her hurt you."
"I won't get hurt."
"You hope. Okay, if there's anything I can do . . ."
"Yeah, there is something."
"What?" "When you sack in again, make sure Linda sees you take a sleeping pill, will you?"
Jill's face went expressionless. "Sure," she answered flatly. "Anything for a fellow officer. And gentleman." 96
She made a great show, several hours later, of taking a sleeping pill so that she could rest well on her final nap before re-entry. It seemed to Kinsman that Jill deliberately laid it on with a trowel.
"Do you always take sleeping pills on the final time around?" Linda asked Kinsman after Jill had gone into the bunkroom and yanked the curtain shut.
"Got to be fully rested and alert for the re-entry," Kinsman said. "Trickiest part of the mission."
"I see."
"Nothing to worry about, though."
He went to the control desk and busied himself with the tasks that the mission plan called for. Linda hovered beside him, within arm's reach. Kinsman chatted briefly with Kodiak station, on schedule, and made an entry in the log.
Three more ground stations and we're over the Indian Ocean, with world enough and time.
But he did not look up from the control panel. He tested each system aboard the station, fingers nicking over the keyboard pads, eyes focused on the screen readouts that told him exactly how each system was performing.
"Chet?"
"Yes?" Without looking up.
