"You'd think with so many intelligent people around, rank wouldn't be that much of a factor," Patricia said. She felt naive the instant the last word was out of her mouth.

Lanier folded his hands on the table and looked at her directly until she glanced away.

"Patricia, you're young, and this might seem very romantic to you, but it's deadly serious. We're working under agreements which took years to iron out—if they're ironed out even yet. We're an international team of scientists, engineers and security forces, and whatever information we find is not necessarily going to be available to every person on the globe, not for some time yet. Since you'll have access to almost everything, you must be particularly responsible—as responsible as I am. Please don't waste your time concerning yourself with. . . Well, I suggest you stay off the social roster. Another time, another place, sure, romance and adventure. But not on the Stone."

She sat stiffly, hands knotted in her lap. "I have no intention of going on the roster," she said. She hadn't been called on the carpet, exactly, but she was still upset.

"Good. Let's get your green badge and take a ride across the valley." They deposited their trays in the scrubber and left the cafeteria. Lanier walked a few steps ahead of her, eyes on the ground as they approached a small building near the northern side of the ramparts. A stocky broad-shouldered woman in a black jumpsuit, with a green belt and red sergeant's stripes on her sleeve, opened the door for them, then sat behind a desk made of more baffle metal to fill out forms. When they were done, she opened a locked box and pulled out a green badge with an outline of the Stone printed in one corner, surrounded by a silver circle.

"Our security is tight here, Miss Vasquez," she said. "Make sure you know the rules. A green badge is a great responsibility."

Patricia took the indelible pen and signed the badge, then pressed her fingers onto an ID scan plate for storage in the security system computers. The woman clipped the badge to her breast pocket. "Pleased to have you with us. I'm Doreen Cunningham, head of security for First Chamber Science Compound One. Any questions or problems, feel free to visit."

"Thank you," Patricia said. Lanier led the way out of the guardhouse and up the rampart steps.

"If you like to exercise, we have a running path around the inner perimeter of the compound, with an extension that takes you to the second compound. There's a gym pit not far from here. I recommend pretty strenuous exercise whenever possible. The low-g is a bit easy on us. I tend to get flabby if I don't maintain. And exercise will acclimate you more quickly to the air pressure."

"I think the low-g is pleasant," she said as they walked to the front of a wide plastic-sheet quonset hut. "Buoyant."

Inside the hut were two vehicles resembling large snow-cats, mounted on six rubber-tired band-steel-spoke wheels instead of treads. Patricia bent down to look beneath, then straightened. "Very rugged," she said.