"A feeble bit at best. Just sit still and listen, young man."
"—I suppose I can take him this afternoon if the scanner room is vacant."
"It will be vacant, we'll see to that. I'm glad you're being sensible about this whole unhappy affair, Eeb Lym."
"What are you so cheerful about?" Eddie said.
They stood in the scanner room and the girl was humming a little tune. "Don't worry, Edam Hurst. Relax, Eddie. I'm cheerful because I know what I'm doing, that's why. Just bear with me."
He had no choice. But now that suddenly, devastatingly, he felt about Eeb the way she felt about him, he did not want to lose her. It was as simple as that.
"Time is huge," Eeb told him. "You didn't think that once I found you I'd let you go? Oh no, I found you and you're mine—that's all there is to it. Even Jeeva, Lord of the City, couldn't do a thing about it. Nossir. Time is big and while I said...."
She flicked a switch and kicked nonchalantly at a pedal with her foot. "That ought to do it. Just don't be frightened, Eddie. The important thing—"
"The important thing," he finished for her, "is that we want to be together, right?"