He went on, "What I'm beginning to suspect is that he isn't really a trained spaceman at all, that he didn't go to any of the Earth space schools."
"Do you have to go to an Earth space school to be a spaceman? Can't you study somewhere else?"
"Earth's the only place where they give the conditioning." He told the truth, figuring she wouldn't understand.
She turned to look at him. "That's so the men shouldn't—see the things outside when they go through hyperspace, isn't it?"
Mattern was somewhat taken aback. "How did you know? It's not public information."
She shrugged and turned back to the dressing table. "I've known a lot of spacemen, hon."
Her face was pale, but why just now? He wondered just what Raines had told her—how much the boy actually knew. Naturally there could be only one possible reason he had chosen Lyddy as his confidante.
"There's something between you and Raines, isn't there?" he asked.
There was a slight delay. Then her laughter shrilled through the cabin. "Don't be silly, hon; I hardly know the man! All I've done was speak to him a couple of times!" She got up and put her soft arms around her husband. "You're jealous, Len," she said, and there was complacency mixed with the fright in her eyes.
He felt a pang of disgust, but tried not to let it show. Gently, he put her away from him.