Scyth blinked. She was rather distractingly direct. "There is no
suitable answer to that," he said. "Must I supply one?"
Barbara laughed. "Come in, Scyth. Let me offer you the hospitality of a
drink."
"Pleased," he said, following her into the living room. She waved him
into a chair and turned towards the kitchen.
When she came back with two highballs, Scyth was relaxed in the
loveseat. Barbara noted it with inward amusement and handed him the
drink without comment. Scyth sipped the drink first and then took a
deep and appreciative drink.
"You do have something to offer," he said, not showing his
disappointment that Barbara had seated herself in the chair instead of
on the loveseat beside him.
"That," she said, "makes two items, doesn't it, Scyth?"
Scyth knew that he had lost the initiative; Barbara was way ahead of
him. He tried another tack:
"I came to see how you are making out," he said.
"I'm not doing badly."
"Is the public aware of the impending event?"
"Aware, but not believing. Dusty Britton lost his shirt over this."
"He'll get it back," said Scyth. "I'm not concerned over the result.
It's happened before and it will probably happen again."
"It's more than possible that Dusty will be vindicated but will then be
blamed for not doing something about it," said Barbara.
"That cannot be helped. Dusty couldn't do anything about it, you know.
And if Dusty loses out in the long run, we can't permit the well-being
of one lonely man to stand in the way of galactic progress."
* * * * *
Barbara smiled confidently, but with a slightly sour twist to her
pretty lips; it led Scyth to think that there was some derision in her
mind. She confirmed it by saying, "Scyth, since you are going on with
your program no matter what happens, and your concern about warning the
people has worked no matter what happens to Dusty Britton, why do you
bother coming back for a look-see?"
Scyth squirmed uncomfortably. Despite certain jokes to the contrary, it
is not acceptable to confront a desirable young lady of barely speaking
acquaintance and flatly state the delicate proposition. The difficulty
here was that no matter how he tried, Barbara Crandall was turning the
trend of conversation right back onto the old original trail.
"You're an actress," he said.
"So I'm told."