The red-haired Miss Jervis saw Don now and put her finger to her lips.
"... an ultimote, which is simultaneously an integral part of ..."
Now the redhead was beckoning to him urgently. He excused himself to Alis, who frowned when she saw the other girl; then he went back of the speaker's table ("... 1,257 tenescopes to the square centimeter ...") into the kitchen. Jen Jervis was by now at the far end of it, motioning him to hurry up.
"I've found something," she said. She was wearing a shapeless fur coat, apparently borrowed.
"Come on. You'll have to see it."
"All right, but why me?"
"Aside from myself you seem to be the only one from the train with any gumption. I know you've been spying around doing things while everybody else sat back and waited for deliverance. Though I can't say I admire your choice of companions. That tawdry blonde—"
"Now, really, Miss Jervis!"
"Tawny, then; sometimes I mix up my words."
"I'll bet."