"I take back what I said before!" Clarey flared. "You talk too damn much!"
There was a chilling silence.
"Nerves," said Blynn nervously. "Every agent lets go when he's back among his own kind. Nothing but release of tension."
Several days later the staff ship was ready to go back to Earth. "Don't forget to tell your wife how much I enjoyed the pies," Spano said; then, "Oh, I was forgetting; you could hardly do that. But do see if you can work out something with the dehydro-freeze. I'd hate to have to wait three years before tasting them again. You can keep your marac rolls, though; I'll take my smoke-sticks."
"Try not to get any more involved, Clarey," Han Vollard said as they stood outside the airlock. "Maybe you ought to move on—to a city, perhaps, another country—"
"When I want your advice, I'll ask for it!" he snapped.
After they'd gone, Blynn turned on him. "Man, you must be out of your mind, talking to Secretary Vollard like that."
"Why does she have to keep meddling? It's none of her business—"
"None of her business! Secretary of the Space Service, and you say it's none of her business?"