Quantrell was silent a long time.
"Just for a day or so?" he asked, at last. "We'll just go out, and have a look around, just to see what it's like out there." He fell silent again. Alan saw a little trickle of sweat burst out on Quantrell's cheek. He felt strangely calm himself, a little to his own surprise.
Then Quantrell smiled and the confidence returned to his tanned face. "I'm game. Let's go!"
But Rat was quizzical about the whole enterprise when Alan returned to his room to get him.
"You aren't serious, Alan. You really are going over to the Earther city?"
Alan nodded and gestured for the little extra-terrestrial to take his usual perch. "Are you daring to take my word in vain, Rat?" he asked in mock histrionics. "When I say I'm going to do something, I do it." He snapped closed his jacket and flipped the switch controlling the archaic fluorescent panels. "Besides, you can always stay here if you want to, you know."
"Never mind," Rat said. "I'm coming." He leaped up and anchored himself securely on Alan's shoulder.
Kevin Quantrell was waiting for them in front of the building. As Alan emerged Rat said, "One question, Alan."
"Shoot."
"Level, now: are you coming back—or are you going over the way Steve did?"