Kane frowned at me and blew smoke into the still air of the room. "The
Kim Hall on the application and you aren't exactly the same person. I
don't have to tell you that."
"Look," I said. "I called you here tonight to check me over and because
we've been friends for a good long time. This is important to me, Kane.
It isn't just that I _want_ to go. I _have_ to. You can understand
that, maybe."
"Yes, Kim," he said bitterly. "I can understand. Maybe if I had your
build and mass, I'd be trying the same thing right now. My only
chance was the Eugenics Board and they turned me down cold. Remember?
Sex-linked predilection to carcinoma. Unsuitable for colonial breeding
stock--"
I felt a wave of pity for Kane then. I was almost sorry I'd called him
over. Within six hours I would be on board the spaceship, while he
would be here. Earthbound for always. Unsuitable for breeding stock in
the controlled colonies of Mars or Io and Callisto.
I thought about that, too. I knew I wouldn't be able to carry off
my masquerade forever. I wouldn't want to. The stringent physical
examination given on landing would pierce my disguise easily. But
by that time it would be too late. I'd _be_ there, out among the
stars. And no Earthbound spaceship captain would carry my mass back
instead of precious cargo. I'd stay. If they wanted me for a breeder
then--okay. In spite of my slight build and lack of physical strength,
I'd still be where I wanted to be. In the fey lands in the sky....
"I wish you all the luck in the world, Kim," my friend said. "I really
do. I don't mean to throw cold water on your scheme. You know how few
of _us_ are permitted off-world. Every one who makes it is a--" he
grinned ruefully--"a blow struck for equality." He savored the irony
of it for a moment and then his face grew serious again. "It's just
that the more I think of what you've done, the more convinced I am that
you can't get away with it. Forged applications. Fake fingerprints
and X-rays. And _this_--" He made a gesture that took in all of my
appearance. Flesh, hair, clothes. Everything.
"What the hell," I said. "It's good, isn't it?"
"Very good. In fact, you make me uncomfortable, it's so good. But it's
too damned insane."
"Insane enough to work," I said. "And it's the only chance. How do you
think I'd stack up with the Eugenics Board? Not a chance. What they
want out there is big muscle boys. Tough breeders. This is the only way
for me."
"Well," Kane said. "You're big enough now, it seems to me."
"Had to be. Lots to cover up. Lots to add."
"And you're all set? Packed and ready?"
"Yes," I said. "All set."
"Then I guess this is it." He extended his hand. I took it. "Good
luck, Kim. Always," he said huskily. "I'll hear if you make it. All of
us will. And we'll be cheering and thinking that maybe, before we're
all too old, we can make it, too. And if not, that maybe our sons
will--without having to be prize bulls, either."
He turned in the doorway and forced a grin.
"Don't forget to write," he said.
* * * * *
The spacefield was streaked with the glare of floodlights, and the ship
gleamed like a silvery spire against the desert night.
I joined the line of passengers at the checking desk, my half-kilo of
baggage clutched nervously against my side. My heart was pounding with
a mixture of fear and anticipation, my muscles twitching under the
unaccustomed tension of the plastiflesh sheath that hid me.
All around me were the smells and sounds and sights of a spaceport, and
above me were the stars, brilliant and close at hand in the dark sky.
The queue moved swiftly toward the checking desk, where a gray-haired
officer with a seamed face sat.
The voice of the timekeeper came periodically from the loudspeakers
around the perimeter of the field.
"_Passengers for the Martian Queen, check in at desk five. It is now H
minus forty-seven._"
I stood now before the officer, tense and afraid. This was critical,
the last check-point before I could actually set foot in the ship.
"_It is now H minus forty-five_," the timer's metallic voice said.
The officer looked up at me, and then at the faked photoprint on my
papers.
"Kim Hall, age twenty-nine, vocation agri-technician and hydroponics
expert, height 171 centimeters, weight 60 kilos. Right?"