pete expected to need another policy before he left for his next trip. he felt unhappy about sally's being gone, but a man mustn't give in to morbid self pity. and hadn't he heard somebody say that a man without a wife was like a spaceship without a motor?
he strolled about the city, unimpressed by the changes since his last visit. an interstellar man with as much service as pete was beyond showing surprise at superficial differences. he was a little annoyed to find that the moving sidewalks were old-fashioned and had been torn out. people now wore little repulsor units on their belts.
walking was tiresome. he stopped at a corner and watched the pedestrians as they whizzed by a few inches off the ground. at least they were clothed; the nudity of the previous century had been somewhat unnerving even to the blasé eyes of a time man. and he was glad to see that the women were back to wearing long, well groomed hair. that period when fashion had called for smoothly shaven heads hadn't suited his taste at all.
in fact, none of it seemed to appeal to him very much any more. that was sophistication, the price that must be paid by a man in the interstellar service, watching the centuries go by without belonging to any one of them. he watched a group of young people flit laughing by, felt an unreasoning irritation. they'd be gone and forgotten when he'd made a few more trips.
one of the young girls noticed him. she broke from the group and approached.
"you're an interstellar, aren't you? i hope you'll join me. i'm nancy...."
pete straightened up and looked her over. a little young, maybe nineteen, but that meant a lower premium. nice blond hair, big waves of it that stayed in place even when she was moving fast, and even when she was standing still she seemed to be moving. she was really alive, smiling and laughing and talking easily, and in a pleasant low voice. really healthy—that slender but nicely rounded body was good for a hundred years.
but then, money isn't everything.
"a lovely name," he told her. "i like girls with old-fashioned names...."
nancy, it seemed, wanted to interview a time man in connection with a thesis, and in this particular age there was no taboo against a young girl introducing herself to a strange man. pete didn't mind at all being interviewed and having dinner with her and seeing the town with her. and even when he had given her enough material for a dozen theses, she didn't seem in any hurry to break off their friendship.
