"Commendable, sir."
"I suppose you drink, all of the rest of the men do."
"Occasionally, Captain."
"I abstain."
"Enviable, sir."
"Have you read any good books lately?"
"Good and bad, sir."
"I notice most of the men read. I haven't time for reading myself. Or shooting craps. You do play that game like the rest?"
"Just once, sir. I lost all my money." Which had been returned to him.
"Ben, I think you don't fully appreciate the nature of the mission of the Space Service," Captain Birdsel said, flexing one knee and performing a difficult one-legged swing on the bar. "It is our duty to go ever onward into the mystery of the Unknown. Ever deeper, ever traveling into the heart of the Secrets of the Universe. Nothing can stop us. Nothing!"