"Hasn't Priscilla Cameron confided in you? I thought...."
He laughed shortly. "I might as well be a piece of furniture."
"You mean she hasn't...."
"That's exactly what I do mean. I'm her bodyguard. She gave me to understand the first day that our association was to be strictly business." He made a wry grimace. "And that's what it has been!"
"But why—" Tamis looked utterly dumbfounded. "She acted like a wanton aboard ship."
"It was just an act. Don't ask me why. I don't know."
"Where is she now?"
"In conference with her father."
Tamis rose shakily. "I don't understand it, Joel. There are wheels within wheels. I must get back to the Thinkers."
Joel guided her through the walls to a tiny lift barely large enough to hold them both. They dropped swiftly to the basement, traversed a long tunnel.