Belle was, however, unusually diffident. "I stuck my neck out a mile—worse, Clee's. I'm sorry, Clee. I had to have some weight to throw around, and I had only a second to think, and that was the first thing I thought of, and after half a minute she made me so damn mad that I went entirely too far."
"Uh-uh. Just far enough. That was a perfect job."
"But she'll never forget that, and she'll crucify you, as well as me, when we land. She knows I'm not a commander."
"She just thinks you ain't. The official log will show, though, that after only one day out I discovered that we should all be officers—one captain and three commanders—with pay and perquisites of rank. I'll think up good and sufficient reasons for it between now and when I make up the log."
"But you can't! Or can you, really?"
"Well, nobody told me I couldn't, so I assumed the right. Besides, you didn't tell her commander of what, so I'll make it stick, too—see if I don't. Or else I'll tear two or three offices apart finding out why I can't. You can be sure of that."
"All that may not be necessary," Lola said. "That tape will never be heard. I'll bet she's erased it already."
"Perhaps; but ours isn't going to be erased—it will be heard exactly where it will do the most good."
"I'm awfully glad you don't think we're on the hook. All that's left, then, is that second-in-command business. Both of you know, of course, that that was just window-dressing."
"You were telling the truth and didn't know it," James said, cheerfully. "You have actually been second-in-command ever since the drive tests."