"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.