James and Lola left the ship; Garlock and Belle went into the library.
"If I didn't know you were impotent, Clee," Belle shivered affectedly and began to laugh, "I'd be scared to death to be alone with you in this great big spaceship. Lola hasn't realized yet what she really hatched out—the screamingest screamer ever pulled on anybody!"
"It isn't that funny. You have got a savage sense of humor."
"Perhaps." She shrugged her shoulders. "But you were on the receiving end, which makes a big difference. She's a peculiar sort of duck. Brainy, but impersonal—academic. She knows all the words and all their meanings, all the questions and all the answers, but she doesn't apply any of them to herself. She's always the observer, never the participant. Pure egg-head ... pure? That's it. She looks, acts, talks, and thinks like a virgin.... Well, if that's all, she isn't any—or is she? Even though you've started calling her 'Brownie,' like my now-tamed tomcat, you might not...." She stared at him.
"Go ahead. Probe."
"Why waste energy trying to crack a Prime's shield? But just out of curiosity, are you two pairing, or not?"
"Tut-tut; don't be inurbane. Let's talk about Jim instead. I thought he'd be gibbering."
"No, I'm working under double wraps—full dampers. I don't want him in love with me. You want to know why?"
"I think I know why."
"Because having him mooning around underfoot would weaken the team and I want to get back to Tellus."