"Of course, Harry. We have lots of planets to visit and we can't spend more than a day on an out-of-the-way mote like Talbor."
"Well, now, there are plenty of interesting things on Talbor."
"Oh, I know. I know. Rustic cabins, rocky fields, stolid farmers who work the soil all day and fall into bed exhausted at night. It's all very thrilling."
"We have some mighty nice scenery," Marsden told her. "Madison falls are two-hundred feet high, and we've got some mountains that—"
"Certainly, Harry. But I can see that sort of thing just anyplace. I want you to show me your farm, your fields. How you people of Talbor can get by on this rocky, God-forsaken place I'll never know. Why your parents came here I could never figure out."
He stood up awkwardly. "I guess—well...."
Alice Cooper rose to her feet in a liquid motion beautiful to behold. The top of her head came up to his shoulders and she reached out with one small, dainty hand and touched his upper arm.
"My, but you have big muscles."
Marsden smiled.
"You need them in this grim, dreary place, of course. You probably wish you didn't. You probably would rather be thin and wear glasses maybe and spend most of your time in an air-cooled office and do things like that."