"They--they can't get at us in here," Tabak asked, "can they?"
He shook his head. "We're safe enough as long as we stay inside. We
could fly away, I suppose, but as soon as we came back they'd pick us
up again. And I haven't enough fuel to waste any of it."
The Caligan girl brightened.
"At least we're giving Reiloc and Lete a better chance to get through.
We've drawn off all the birds for miles around."
Jupiter nodded, broke open his pack. Tabak's blue eyes were alive with
curiosity as she watched him feed the radioactive tentacle into the
fuel hoppers, reset the alarms and check the instruments.
Tabak poked into every corner of the ship, "Oh-ed" and "ah-ed" with
delight. She wanted to know about everything. But before Jupiter could
tell her she would say, "This is Briggs' cabin, isn't it?" Or, "This is
the galley," and laugh at his expression.
"Jupiter," she said soberly, with one of her quick shifts of mood.
"Are--are you very fond of Lete?"