He didn't bother to tell her that already the greater part of his small fortune had been siphoned off in Freddy Soligen's campaign to make him a celebrity. He said, instead, "The stock shares I'll make aren't particularly important, Nadine. But Stonewall Cogswell has pledged that if I'll fly for him in the Carbonaceous Fuel-United Miners fracas, he'll press my ambitions for promotion."
She said, her voice low, "Promotion in rank, or caste, Joe?"
"You know the answer to that."
"But, Joe, to risk your life, your life, Joe, for such a silly thing—"
He said softly, "Such a silly thing as attaining to a position which will enable me to court openly the girl I love?"
She flushed, looked into his face quickly. Her flush deepened and her eyes went to her folded hands, on the table.
He said nothing.
Nadine said finally, her voice so low as almost not to be heard, "Perhaps I would be willing to marry a man of Middle caste."
He was taken with surprise, but even in thrilling to the meaning of her words, his head was shaking in negation. "Nadine Haer, Category Medicine, Rank Doctor, Mid-Upper, married to Major Joseph Mauser, Category Military, Mid-Middle. Don't be ridiculous, Nadine. It would be as though back in the Twentieth Century you would have married a Negro or Oriental."
She was stirred with anger. "There is no law preventing marriage between castes!"