Cob looked away. "I thought that you and she ... well, I thought that when we got back ... well...."
Strike shook his head. "She's gone to the Bureau of Ships with a designing job."
Cob waved an expressive arm in the air. "But dammit, man, I thought...."
"The answer is no. Ivy's a nice girl ... but...." He paused and sighed. "Since she was promoted to her father's old rank ... well...." He shrugged. "Who wants a wife that ranks you?"
"Never thought of that," mused Cob. For a long while he was silent; then he pulled out an address book and leafed through until he came to the pages marked "Canalopolis, Mars."
And he was gratified to see that Lieutenant Commander David Farragut Strykalski III was doing the same.