Bell's metallic eyeplates selected one tiny figure among the many disembarking. He groaned.
"I guess this is it." The doctor gripped his arm, then left him alone to meet his fate.
She was a trim figure in a simple gray suit. Not beautiful, not extraordinary nor spectacular except in that individual way every human being is extraordinary and different from all others. She was in her middle thirties, even plain by some standards. But she was Jane, which was somehow important to Bell.
"It's all right," she said calmly, standing straight and firm, unafraid of the things time and change can do to love, or to other human relations.
"Don't hurry it," Bell advised. "Just remember that whatever you want is all that really matters."
"You're changed," she said rapidly. "Different in ways that I can't understand. Maybe I'll never understand. It may be pretty difficult but we'll worry about details later. You're still you, I think. Welcome home."
Much later Hastings joined the pair and was introduced. He made no comment worthy of record but while Jane attended to some formalities of disembarking on Luna the men were left alone.
Bell fixed his robot stare on Hastings. "Tomorrow we start Project Power," he promised. "Still with me?"
"All the way," Hastings agreed. "I guess that settles everything but the Jackpot Question."
For once, Bell's face-plate achieved the miracle of a completely human expression. Puzzlement.