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that this time the guard spoke English. "You can't come through here," he said. "I just want to see the ships." "Sure. You can't. You've got to have a blue badge," he said, tapping his own. "That's Corporation specialist, flight crew or maintenance." "I am flight crew." He grinned. "You're a new fish off the Earth transport, aren't you? Friend, you'll be flight crew when you sign on for a flight and not before. Go on back up." I said reasonably, "You understand how I feel, don't you? I just want to get a look." "You can't, till you've finished your course, except they'll bring you down here for part of it. After that, you'll see more than you want." I argued a little more, but he had too many arguments on his side. But as I reached for the up-cable the tunnel seemed to lurch and a blast of sound hit my ears. For a minute I thought the asteroid was blowing up. I stared at the guard, who shrugged, in a not unfriendly way. "I only said you couldn't see them," he said. "I didn't say you couldn't hear them." I bit back the "wow" or "Holy God!" that I really wanted to say, and said, "Where do you suppose that one's going?" "Come back in six months. Maybe we'll know by then." Well, there was nothing in that to feel elated about. All the same, I felt elated. After all those years in the food mines, here I was, not only on Gateway, but right there when some of those intrepid prospectors set out on a trip that would bring them fame and incredible fortune! Never mind the odds. This was really living on the top line. So I wasn't paying much attention to what I was doing, and as a result I got lost again on the way back. I reached Level Babe ten minutes late. Dane Metchnikov was striding down the tunnel away from my room. He didn't appear to recognize me. I think he might have passed me if I hadn't put out my arm. "Huh," he grunted. "You're late." "I was down on Level Tanya, trying to get a look at the ships." "Huh. You can't go down there unless you have a blue badge or a bangle." Well, I had found that out already, hadn't I? So I tagged along after him, without wasting energy on attempts at further conversation. Metchnikov was a pale man, except for the marvelously ornate
    ---------------------------------------- WHAT IS GATEWAY?
    Gateway is an artifact created by the so-called Heechee. It appears to have been formed around an asteroid, or the core of an atypical comet. The time of this event is not known, but it almost surely precedes the rise of human civilization. Inside Gateway the environment resembles Earth,except that there is relatively little gravity. (There is actually none, but centrifugal force derived from Gateway's rotation gives a similar effect.) If you have come from Earth you will notice some difficulty in breathing for the first few days because of the low atmospheric pressure. However, the partial pressure of oxygen is identical with the 2000-meter elevation at Earth and is fully adequate for all persons in normal health. ----------------------------------------
    curled whisker that followed the line of his jaw. It seemed to be waxed, so that each separate curl stood out with a life of its own. "Waxed" was wrong. It had something in it besides hair, but whatever it was wasn't stiff. The whole thing moved as he moved, and when he talked or smiled the muscles moored to the jawbone made the beard ripple and flow. He finally did smile, after we got to the Blue Hell. He bought the first drink, explaining carefully that that was the custom, but that the custom only called for one. I bought the second. The smile came when, out of turn, I also bought the third. Over the noise in the Blue Hell talk wasn't easy, but I told him about hearing a launch. "Right," he said, lifting his glass. "Hope they have a good trip." He wore six blue-glowing Heechee metal bracelets, hardly thicker than wire. They tinkled faintly as he swallowed half the drink. "Are they what I think they are?" I asked. "One for every trip out?" He drank the