“Yes,” I said. But I turned, and I was looking at her face as I said it. Then—I hadn’t meant to—I kissed her.
I went back, and sat down at my desk. She said, “Phil, what’s the matter? You haven’t got a wife and six kids hidden away somewhere, or something, have you? You were single when I had a crush on you at Earth Polytech—and I waited five years to get over it and didn’t, and finally wangled a job on Placet just to… Do I have to do the proposing?”
I groaned. I didn’t look at her. I said, “Mike, I’m nuts about you. But—just before you came, I sent a two-word radiotype to Earth. It said, ‘I quit.’ So I’ve got to leave Placet on this shuttle of the Ark, and I doubt if I can even get a teaching job, now that I’ve got Earth Center down on me, and—”
She said, “But, Phil!” and took a step toward me.
There was a knock on the door, Reagan’s knock. I was glad, for once, of the interruption. I called out for him to come in, and he opened the door.
He said, “You told Mike yet, chief?”
I nodded, glumly.
Reagan grinned. “Good,” he said, “I’ve been busting to tell her. It’ll be swell to see Ike again.”
“Huh?” I said. “Ike who?”
Reagan’s grin faded. He said, “Phil, are you slipping or something? Don’t you remember giving me the answer to that Earth Center radiotype four days ago, just before Mike got here?”