"Almost. They can't transform an Earther into a Spacer, and they don't
think they ever will."
"Or vice versa?" Rolf asked.
They sniggered. "What Spacer would want to become an Earther? Who would
give up that life, out in the stars?"
Rolf said nothing. He kicked at the heap of litter in the filthy street.
_What spacer indeed?_ he thought. He suddenly realized that the two
little Earthers were staring up at him as if he were some sort of beast.
He probably weighed as much as both of them, he knew, and at six-four he
was better than a foot taller. They looked like children next to him,
like toys. The savage blast of acceleration would snap their flimsy
bodies like toothpicks.
"What places have you been to?" the earless one asked.
"Two years on Mars, one on Venus, one in the Belt, one on Neptune," Rolf
recited. "I didn't like Neptune. It was best in the Belt; just our one
ship, prospecting. We made a pile on Ceres--enough to buy out. I shot
half of it on Neptune. Still have plenty left, but I don't know what I
can do with it." He didn't add that he had come home puzzled, wondering
why he was a Spacer instead of an Earther, condemned to live in filthy
Spacertown when Yawk was just across the river.
They were looking at his shabby clothes, at the dirty brownstone hovel
he lived in--an antique of a house four or five centuries old.
"You mean you're rich?" the Earther said.
"Sure," Rolf said. "Every Spacer is. So what? What can I spend it on? My
money's banked on Mars and Venus. Thanks to the law I can't legally get
it to Earth. So I live in Spacertown."
"Have you ever seen an Earther city?" the earless one asked, looking
around at the quiet streets of Spacertown with big powerful men sitting
idly in front of every house.
"I used to live in Yawk," Rolf said. "My grandmother was an Earther; she
brought me up there. I haven't been back there since I left for space."
_They forced me out of Yawk_, he thought. _I'm not part of their
species. Not one of them._
* * * * *
The two Earthers exchanged glances.
"Can we interest you in a suggestion?" They drew in their breath as if
they expected to be knocked sprawling.
Kanaday appeared at the door of the shack again.
"Rolf. Hey! You turning into an Earther? Get rid of them two cuties
before there's trouble."
Rolf turned and saw a little knot of Spacers standing on the other side
of the street, watching him with curiosity. He glared at them.
"I'll do whatever I damn well please," he shouted across.