"Am I to understand," said Mike as she steered them toward the drinks, "that this is a date?"

She stopped them and looked up at him, mock-serious. "Mr. Bequith, would you like to go to the ball with me?"

He grinned and offered her his arm.

Rue drank two tall glasses of something icy, then they went back to the others. They arrived in time to see Dr. Herat smack his forehead and say, "I don't believe it!"

Max glanced over. "Careful, Professor, you'll break your meal ticket."

"The autotrophs have a delegation here!" said Herat. "Bequith, this is Professor Waldt; he's met them. Can you believe it? We've been trying to talk to them for twenty years and here they are sneaking off to the halo to study us in secret."

"It's hardly a secret to us," said the bearded man.

"So they actually talk to you?" asked Michael.

"Well, not directly." Waldt sipped his drink. "They use intermediaries. There's a group of radical Buddhists who've had themselves genetically engineered to be phototrophs— they're green, if you can imagine that. Lost their stomachs, sealed up their anuses and adopted the autotroph way. They're ice-blind crazy, but the autotrophs do seem to accept them. They've got this little encampment on the edge of the 'troph cavern and they seem to come and go as they please."

"Bequith, this is too great an opportunity to pass up," said Herat.

"I thought you were on vacation," said Mike.

"What better place to spend it than on the shores of an autotroph oasis?"

Max sidled over to Rue as Mike and Herat were bickering. "Something about this doesn't add up," he said.

Rue knew Max's various tones of voice by now; he had been thinking (a quality of Good Max). This was to be encouraged. "What is it?"

"Well, only three of Crisler's guys are here. I see Barendts and Wallace and Manduba. Where are the other two?"

"In the washroom?"

"No, they never showed up. And Crisler's being awfully friendly with some of those industrialists."

"Why, Max, are you jealous of his charisma?"

"No, I just don't understand what he's up to. And this whole party… it's out of whack. I mean, Colossus is important, true, it's one of the biggest halo worlds— but am I just being a provincial bumpkin or is there ten times as much wealth and power sloshing about this room than we'd ever see on Treya?"

She looked through the crush of people. There were a lot of military people and many influential supporters of the Cycler Compact. "They're celebrating the discovery of the Envy."

"I'm not asking why they're here," said Max. "I'm asking why are they here. On Oculus."

She had no idea what he was talking about and said so.

"All right, I'll try one more time," he said. "Did you know that there's no less than three cycler captains here tonight, not counting you?"

"Three? That's impossible!" Most worlds couldn't expect more than ten cyclers to pass by in a single year. And their crews could never visit for more than a few weeks at a time.

"It's true. See?" He pointed out two black uniforms she hadn't seen before. Even now, Captain Li was walking in that direction.

"Maybe you should introduce yourself," said Max.

"I don't think so." Li had been quite enough for one evening.

"Well, there's something goin' on," said Max.

"All right. You tell Mike about it; between the two of you I'm sure you can figure it out."

THE BANQUETING AND dancing flowed on, in long stretches of conversation, moments of laughter and delirious spells of dancing. Many hours later, things began to wind down. Couples strolled up the stone steps and disappeared. Crisler's people left in a knot, several men in suits in tow. As Rue and her crew were drifting in the direction of the exit, Travis Li approached.

"Captain Cassels, we'd be honored if you'd attend a meeting of the Compact in two shifts' time, at one after shift-change," he said. "We'd like to talk to you about Jentry's Envy and about what it might mean to the local worlds to have a new cycler ring operating."

"I'd be delighted," she said. "Where?"

"Council Room Fifteen," he said. "The monks can give you directions. One after in two, then?"

"Ah, yes. Sure."

He walked away. Rue admired his military bearing; she wondered if she would ever walk that way.

They went up the stairs and to the elevators. "I'm not tired yet," she said impulsively to Mike. "Want to take a walk?"

"Sure. But where?"

"This place has a roof. Let's find it."

Despite the fact that they had lived in close proximity for some months now, this was the first time Rue had actually been alone with Mike Bequith. The only truly private spaces on Jentry's Envy were hostile to life. The halls of the great monastery seemed deserted, so she and Mike walked and talked, completely forgetting their surroundings or the various cares that had oppressed them.

Eventually, after wandering a labyrinth of carpeted hallways for a quarter hour, they found an exit onto a broad balcony that looked like it might wrap around the whole building. The roof sloped up steeply above them; it was festooned with gargoyles which, in true halo tradition, looked hand-carved.

The light was exactly the same here as when Rue had awoken. It was only night for one shift of workers; there were shutters over a third of the light wells of the city. She took off her sunglasses. "I suppose it looks dark here to you," she said.

Mike leaned on the balustrade. "Twilight," he said. "Very strange."

"Strange? Not beautiful?"

"Oh, very beautiful," he said, smiling at her. "I must confess I felt very underdressed when I saw you in that uniform earlier."

"I wanted a ball gown."

"Maybe next time."

There was an awkward pause. They stood very near to each other at the railing. Rue wanted to feel his hand on her back again, but what to say? He was always so polite, even distant, that she didn't know where to start with him.

"You've got a meeting tomorrow," he said.

"Yeah. Big time cycler captain stuff." She grinned.

"Dr. Herat wants to visit the autotrophs tomorrow. He will expect me to go."

"Oh… Well, I'm sure I'll be wrapped up all afternoon."

"You know, I've hardly ever seen your eyes."

Rue's heart started pounding. She looked up at him and bit her lip.

"You have beautiful eyes," he said, "but I can never tell what you're thinking, because they're always hidden."

"I'll have to make sure you see them more often," she said.

"Well," he said with an ironic smile, "I can only think of one way for that to happen— for us to be together with the lights off."

Why, the sly boy! She laughed. "I do believe you've just propositioned me, Mr. Bequith."

"Maybe." He took her hand and raised it to his lips. "I guess it was the eyes. What do you say?"

"I suppose the view will still be there tomorrow," she said and let him lead her back inside.