She flicked off the key and opened the door to reveal Captain Walter McCausland.
"Oh, hello," she said.
"Paulette—Miss de Vries," he said earnestly, "can you come to my cabin for a few minutes? I want to say something very important to you where we won't be interrupted."
"If it's important."
"It is." He stood aside for her to pass and they moved silently down the empty corridor to his cabin. When they were seated he looked at her seriously for a moment.
"I never asked you why you took it upon yourself to break off our engagement in so dramatic a manner."
"The reason was sufficient for me. It doesn't matter otherwise."
His lips drew back. "I suppose it has something to do with that young puppy of a mate."
"That, Captain McCausland, is none of your business."
He leaned forward. "Paulette, stop fencing with me. I'll be frank. You know that not everything has gone smoothly on this expedition. You may think you know the reason; perhaps you do. And then again, perhaps I know a lot more about it than you do. You think that the expedition is a great success so far, but I want to remind you that we're not home yet. We haven't even left Pluto and those queer people down there. I think—that is—if you really want to be certain that we will get back to Earth with our load of beryllium, it might be an extremely good idea if you reconsidered your breaking the engagement."