"I suppose you have to do a lot of odd investigating like this in the course of company work?" Dr. Farrar asked politely.
"Yes, indeed, Doctor. Every event in the world is somehow connected with the insurance business. You might be interested to know that some of our men are now in Washington investigating space ship conditions. Confidentially, we shall probably soon be pushing a government subsidy for insurance for space crews and extra-territorial colonists. Sounds fantastic, doesn't it?"
"I should say so. But I thought the Colonia wasn't due to take off for another year. I rather lose track of world news in my job here."
"She'd be ready to blast in fourteen months if they could decide about passengers and crew. Every nation in the Assembly and every bloc from farm and free-lifers to commists wants to be the first to start the colony, mostly from distrust of the others, but no particular individuals seem to want to be the first to cut the ties. The crew has to stay with the colony for months, you know, until they're settled and know what else they need. The Colonia's the only large ship under construction. The Company doesn't want to be responsible for possible mishaps and we've just started writing in space-travel exception clauses in our regular policies."
The intercom bulb burned amber again. This time Farrar was more cautious.
"Who is it?" he asked.
"Mr. Daneshaw."
"Send him in in about a minute."
He turned to Brill. "The man who's coming in is one of our older subjects. You might like to meet him." He smiled. "Not that he's exactly typical of his age."