Today there is a constant companionable rivalry between graduates of the two schools; one subordinate, of course, to the routine of daily work, but that flares into definite feeling when, each Earth autumn, the current football teams of the academies meet in their traditional grid battle.
They tell me that in the old days soldiers and sailors the world around used to gather about their short-wave radios to hear the broadcast of the Army-Navy game. Well, it's that way—only worse—nowadays in space. Graduates of the N.R.I. ("Rocketeers," we call 'em) listen, cheek-to-jowl, with "Wranglers" from the Spaceways Academy. There's a lot of groaning and a lot of cheering and a lot of drinking and sometimes there's a sizable chunk of fisticuffing. It usually ends up with the representatives of the winning team standing treat, and the grads of the losing academy vowing they'll win "Next year!"
Take our ship, for instance. The Saturn. I won my brevet at the Academy; so did Dick Todd, the second-in-command, and Lancelot Biggs graduated just last year. Chief Engineer Garrity, on the other hand, took his sheepskin from the Rocketeers' school, and so did Cap Hanson.
Which made another important reason why I should do something—and do it mighty fast—to get the Saturn's radio clicking again. Because the annual Rocketeer-Wrangler grid fracas was to be broadcast just two days from now, and my scalp wouldn't be worth the price of a secondhand toupee if the old grads from both schools couldn't hear the game.
Biggs spluttered like my condenser would if my audio had been working, which it wasn't—if you know what I mean.
"I'm not one to complain, Sparks. But when Hanson tries to come between Diane and me—"
I said, "So! Mister Biggs, accept my apology. I underrated you. It's reached the 'Diane' stage already, has it?"
"It—it—" Biggs stammered into silence. Then he said, almost meekly, "Sparks—can you keep a secret?"
"I'm a mousetrap," I told him.
"Then I'll tell you—this isn't the first time Diane and I have met. We—we knew each other before I came aboard the Saturn. As a matter of fact, I asked for this berth in order that I might gain her father's favor; so we could get married."