He looked at the flowers and attempted a grin. "Lilies would have been
more appropriate, considering the shape I'm in."
Nadine said, "I've just been talking to the staff doctors. You're not
in as bad shape as all that. Some bone mending, is all."
The grin turned wry. "I wasn't just thinking of the physical shape."
He settled to the stone bench which stood to one side of the walk he
had been exercising upon before her arrival. For a moment, she
remained standing.
He looked up at her. "Well," he said. "I didn't break your condition,"
he said. "Am I still receivable?"
She frowned.
Joe said, bitterly, "You told me that you were going to take the
fracas in and if my actions resulted in any casualties, you never
wanted to see me again."
She took the place beside him. "I did watch. For a time, the rest of
the battle going on below was ignored and you were full on lens for at
least twenty minutes. I was never so frightened in my life."
Joe said, "The first step toward becoming a buff. First you're scared.
Vicariously. But it's fun to become scared, when nothing can really
happen to you. It becomes increasingly exciting to see others
threatened with death--and then actually to die before you. After a
while, you're hooked."
She looked carefully at the flowers. "That's not exactly what I meant.
I was frightened for you, Joe. Not thrilled."
He looked at her for a long moment. Finally he breathed deeply and
said, "Well, you'll never have to go through that again. I'm no longer
in the Category Military, I suppose you know."
"It was on the news, Joe." She laughed without amusement. "In fact, I
knew even before. Balt was tried, too."
"Balt? Your brother?"
She nodded. "You first used your glider in that fracas for father and
Vacuum Tube Transport. Now that the commission has ruled against
gliders, Balt, now head of the family, has been both fined and
expelled from Category Military for life. It hasn't exactly improved
his liking for you."
Joe hadn't heard of it, however, he had little sympathy for Balt Haer,
nor interest in him. He said, "Why did you take so long to come?"
"I was thinking, Joe."
"And then you finally came."
"Yes."
He looked away and into unseen distances. Finally he cleared his
throat and said, "Nadine, the first time I ever talked to you to any
extent, I mentioned that I wanted to achieve the top in this status
world of ours. I mentioned that I hadn't built this world, and
possibly didn't even approve of it, but since I'm in it and have no
other recourse, I must follow its rules."
She nodded. "I remember. And I said, why not try and change the
rules?"
Joe nodded. He moistened his lips carefully. "O.K. Now I'm willing to
listen. How do we go about changing the rules?"
[Illustration]