"Maybe I'm sap enough to take the job seriously," I said.
"That may possibly be true," Stenn said.
"What's your real errand here, Stenn? Frankly, I don't have time to get involved."
"Really? One wonders if you have irons in the fire, Smith. But never mind. I shan't pry. Are we going on?"
I gave him my stern penetrating look.
"Yeah," I said. "We're going on."
In twenty minutes, we were on the Inner Concourse and the polyarcs were close together, lighting the empty sweep of banked pavement. The lights of the city sparkled across the sky ahead, and gave me a ghostly touch of the old thrill of coming home.
I doused that feeling fast. After eight years there was nothing left there for me to come home to. The city had a lethal welcome for intruders; it wouldn't be smart to forget that.
I didn't see the T-Bird until his spot hit my eyes and he was beside me, crowding.