"You've already been assigned to a project," I told her, hoping it would end the talk.
"That can wait," she insisted. "Besides, there are others who could be trained for my job and there's time to train them, whereas Operation Jehad begins its final phase in five days."
"I wasn't selling your qualifications short," I said. "What I meant was—you're a woman."
"Good Lord! Would Dr. Spartan discriminate against me because I'm not a man?"
"Dr. Spartan wouldn't care if you were an ape. But a lot of people would wonder what one pretty girl was doing up in space with five men."
"Not really! You mean they'd think my honor and virtue would be—lost?" For an instant there was the faintest trace of a smile on her face.
"Exactly," I said. "This world has some queer standards of propriety—especially the good old U.S.A. with its puritan traditions. A lot of people would take the stand that an unmarried young woman could hardly expect to spend two-and-one-half years in close quarters with five unmarried men and expect to come back chaste."
She laughed and I joined her.
"Ridiculous."
"Yes, but that's what they'd think," I insisted.