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get down before we have to   slide   down-on ice underfoot!"
    It was steep and slippery, and once Camilla lost her footing on the icy leafmold and slid, rolled andfloundered to a stop against a great tree trunk; she lay there half--stunned until MacAran, flashing his lightaround and call-ing, caught her in his beam. She was gasping and sobbing with the cold, but when hereached a hand to help her up she shook her head and struggled to her feet. "I can manage. But thankyou," she added, grudgingly.

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    She felt exhausted, utterly humiliated. She had been trained that it was her duty to work with men asan equal and in the usual world she knew, a world of but-tons to push and machines to run, physicalstrength was not a factor she had ever had to take into account. She never stopped to reflect that in allher life she had never known any physical effort greater than gymnastics in the exercise room of the ship,or a space station; she felt that she had somehow failed to carry her own weight, she had somehowbetrayed her high position. A ship's officer was supposed to be more competent than any civilian! Shetrudged wearily along down the steep slope, setting her feet down with dogged care, and felt the tears ofexhaustion and weariness freezing on her cold cheeks.
    MacAran, following slowly, was unaware of her in-ward struggle, but he felt her weariness throughher sag-ging shoulders. After a moment he put his arm around her waist, and said gently, "Like I saidbefore, if you fall again and get hurt badly we'll have to carry you. Don't do that to us, Camilla." Headded, hesitatingly, "You'd have let Jenny help you, wouldn't you?"
    She did not answer, but she let herself lean on him. He guided her stumbling steps toward the small

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    glow of light through the tent. Somewhere above them, in the thick trees, the harsh call of a night-bird broke through the noise of the beating sleet, but there was no other sound. Even their steps sounded odd and alien here.
    Inside the tent MacAran sagged, gratefully taking the plastic cup of boiling tea MacLeod handedhim, stepping carefully to where his sleeping bag had been spread beside Ewen's. He sipped at theboiling liquid, brushing ice from his eyelids, hearing Heather and Judy making cooing sounds over Camilla's icy face, bustling around in the cramped quarters and bringing her hot tea, a dry blanket, helpingher out of her iced-over parka. Ewen asked, "What's it doing out there--rain? Hail? Sleet?"
    "Mixture of all three, I'd guess. We seem to have lucked right into some kind of equinoctial storm,
    I'd imagine. It   can't be like this all year round."
    "Did you get your reading?" At MacAran's affirmative nod, he said, "One of us should have gone,
    the Lieutenant's not really up to that kind of climb in this weather. Won-der what made her try?"
    MacAran looked across at Camilla, huddled. under a

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    blanket, with Judy drying her wet, tangled hair as she sipped the boiling tea. He said, surprising himself,
    "Noblesse oblige."
    Ewer nodded. "I know what you mean. Let me get you some soup. Judy did some great things with
    the ration. Good to have a food expert along."
    They were all exhausted and talked little of what they had seen; the howling of the wind and sleetoutside made speech difficult in any case. Within half an hour they had downed their food and crawledinto their sleeping bag. Heather snuggled close to Ewen, her head on his shoulder, and MacAran, justbeyond them, looked at their joined bodies with a slow, undefined envy. There seemed a closeness therewhich had little to do with sexuality. It spoke is the way they shifted their weight, almost un-consciously,each to ease and comfort the other. Against his will he thought of the moment when Camilla had lether-self rest against him, and smiled wryly in the dark. Of all the women is the ship she was the leastlikely to be in-terested in him, and probably the one he disliked most. But damn it, he had to admire her!
    He lay awake for