Maril looked at him with very strange eyes.

"Now what?" she asked.

"We hang around," said Calhoun, "to see if anybody comes up from Weald
to find out what's happened. It's always possible to pick up a sort of
signal when a ship goes into overdrive. Usually it doesn't mean a
thing. Nobody pays any attention. But if somebody comes out here...."

"What?"

"It'll be regrettable," said Calhoun. He was suddenly very tired.
"It'll spoil any chance of our coming back and stealing some more
food, like interstellar mice. If they find out what we've done they'll
expect us to try it again. They might get set to fight. Or they might
simply land the rest of these ships."

"If I'd realized what you were about," said Maril, "I'd have joined in
the lessons. I could have piloted a ship."

"You wouldn't have wanted to," said Calhoun. He yawned. "You wouldn't
want to be a heroine. No normal girl does."

"Why?"

"Korvan," said Calhoun. He yawned again. "I've asked about him. He's
been trying very desperately to deserve well of his fellow blueskins.
All he's accomplished is develop a way to starve painlessly. He
wouldn't feel comfortable with a girl who'd helped make starving