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airships. "There'll be a deal of work for you there."
    "For me?" Toller gave a humorless chuckle. "No thank you, father. I admit I'd like to see the Old World some day, but at present it is one great enamel house and I don't relish the prospect of clearing away millions of skeletons."
    "But the journey! The adventure! I thought you'd jump at the chance."
    "I have quite enough to occupy me right here on Overland for the time being," Toller said, and for a moment the somber expression Cassyll had noted earlier returned to his face.
    "Something is troubling you," he said. "Are you going to keep it to yourself?"
    "Have I that option?"
    "No."
    Toller shook his head in mock despair. "I thought not. You know, of course, that it was I who picked up the advance messenger from Land. Well, another ship appeared on the scene at the last moment—unwarranted—and tried to scoop up the prize from under my very nose. Naturally I refused to give way. . . ."
    "Naturally!"
    ". . . and there was a minor collision. As there was no damage to my ship I forbore making an official entry in the log—even though the other commander was entirely to blame—but this morning I was informed that an incident report had been filed against me. I have to face Sky-commodore Tresse tomorrow."
    "There's no cause for you to worry," Cassyll said, relieved to hear that nothing more serious was afoot. "I will speak to Tresse this aftday and acquaint him with the real facts."
    "Thanks, but I think I am obliged to deal with this kind of thing by myself. I should have covered my flank by making an entry in the flight log, but I can call on enough witnesses to prove my case. The whole thing is really very trivial. A flea-bite. . . ."
    "But one you continue to scratch!"
    "It's the sheer deceitfulness involved," Toller said angrily. "1 trusted that woman, father. I trusted her, and this is how she repays me."
    "Aha!" Cassyll almost smiled as he began to plumb beneath the surface of what he had heard. "You didn't say that this unprincipled commander was a woman."
    "Didn't I?" Toller replied, his voice now casual. "It has no relevance to anything, but it so happens that she was one of the Queen's brood of granddaughters—the Countess Vantara."
    "Handsome woman, is she?"
    "It is possible that some men might . . . What are you trying to say, father?"
    "Nothing, nothing at all. Perhaps I'm a little curious about the lady because this is the second time within the span of a couple of hours that her name has been mentioned to me." From the corner of his eye Cassyll saw Toller give him a surprised glance, but—unable to resist tantalizing his son— he volunteered no further information. He walked in silence, shading his eyes from the sun in order to get a better view of a large group of ptertha which were following the course of the river. The near-invisible spheres were swooping and bounding just above the surface of the water, buoyed up by a slight breeze.
    "That's quite a coincidence," Toller finally said. "What was said to you?"
    "About what?"
    "About Vantara. Who spoke of her?"
    "No less a person than the Queen," Cassyll said, watching his son carefully. "It appears that Vantara has volunteered to serve with the fleet we are sending to Land, and it is an indication of the strength of the Queen's feelings towards the enterprise that she is giving the young woman her blessing."
    There was another protracted silence from Toller before he said, "Vantara is an airship pilot—what work is there for her on the Old World?"
    "Rather a lot, I'd say. We're sending four airships whose task it will be to circle the entire globe and prove there are no disputants to Queen Daseene's sovereignty. It sounds quite an adventure to me, but of course there will be all the privations of shipboard life—and you've had your fill of service rations."
    "I don't care about that," Toller exclaimed. "I want to go!"
    "To Land! But only a moment ago. ..."
    Toller halted Cassyll by catching his arm