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Alan Donnell loved space, and the ship, and life aboard it. His father, Captain of the VALHALLA, lived for nothing but the traditions of the Spacers. But his twin brother, Steve, couldn't stand it, and so he jumped ship. It had happened only a few weeks before, as Alan experienced it. For Steve, though, he knew it would have been nine years in the past.

Half a block from the shopping center, a row of spacers on planet-leave came rollicking cheerily toward her, uniform jackets unbuttoned, three Ceyce girls in arm-linked formation among them, all happily high. Trigger shifted toward the edge of the sidewalk to let them pass. As the line swayed up on her left, there was a shadowy settling of an aircar at the curb to her right.

"Here are the tech reports." Ihjel dropped them on the table. "Dis has some spacers as well as the cobalt bombs though these aren't the real threat. A tramp trader was picked up leaving Dis. It had delivered a jump-space launcher that can drop those bombs on Nyjord while anchored to the bedrock of Dis.

Kainor shifted on his cushions, then continued. "First, their selection is based on a combination of factors, not a single isolated characteristic. Genius-level intelligence is of course part of it, along with a generalist's wide range of interests and abilities, and greater adaptability than normally appears even in spacers.

There was no better place to drop out of sight than on Ganymede, for it was here that the deep spacers, gigantic spaceships that hauled supplies to the colonies of Alpha Centauri, Tara, and Roald made their last stop. If Roger had finally made good his threat to leave the Academy, Ganymede was the logical place to do it. But why? "Yeow!" Astro's bull-like roar echoed through the Good Company.

On the frontier Rim of the Galaxy, where the independent spacers traced the star trails, fast thinking and the ability to change plans on an instant were as important as skill in aiming a blaster. And it was very often proven that the tongue and the brain behind it were more deadly than a flamer.

His eyes sharp points of blue in the smooth pinkness of his face surveyed Kennon curiously. "So you're the young man who takes untrained pregnant women for rides in old-fashioned spacers," he said. "Didn't you know what would happen?" "I was in a hurry, Doctor," Kennon said. "Obviously. Now tell me about it." Brainard looked at the eager-faced interne standing behind Kennon.

The airboat braked sharply and settled with a smooth, sickeningly swift rush that left Kennon gasping feeling that his stomach was still floating above him in the middle level. He never had become accustomed to an arbutus landing characteristics. Spacers were slower and steadier.

"His name is Steve Donnell, sir. Born 3576. He jumped ship in " "Born when, did you say?" "They're spacers," Hawkes pointed out quietly. MacIntosh shrugged. "Go ahead." "Jumped ship in 3867 I think. It's so hard to tell what year it is on Earth." "And physical description?" "He was my twin," Alan said. "Identical twin."

When blastoff time came for the Valhalla, Steve had not reported back from the Starmen's Enclave where all Spacers lived during in-port stays. Alan's memories of the scene were still sharp. Captain Donnell had been conducting check-off, making sure all members of the Crew had reported back and were aboard.