A smile lightninged across Andres' face.
"It's about time! This inactivity was killing me!"
"Be careful; the best of luck and all that; and may you come back in one piece!"
"One live piece, Frederix!" he mocked, and his dark face, tanned by long exposure to Centauri's blazing binary sun, set forth the fierce glint in his eyes and sudden, bitter pain on his lips. "Thank God it matters to some one—"
"It matters to the world," Frederix said softly. "After all the Legion is ten light years away, and the Defense Squadrons must keep our system at peace!"
"Just keep believing that we will. Faith helps a lot sometimes."
Their hands clasped warmly.
"So I'm checking out. If you get near Botrodus, drop in at the Rendezvous; I'll be there if I'm off duty. You see, I've a new robot to show you—something I can't understand myself—powered by radium; and I know it has intelligence!"
"O.K., Del. And I may be in sooner than you think. When Dave Cravens gets the jitters something pretty powerful is giving them to him!"
"Good old Dave. He was with me at Kackijakaala, helped me at the robot controls—but you know about that. Ask him to tell you about the time we were surrounded at Travarga."