“Everyone watched, wondering if this could be the same lunatic who'd nearly berthed his ornithopter in the restaurant. I swallowed, for it seemed he was headed straight for my table. He pulled off his helmet and a mass of dark auburn hair spilled out. Off came the goggles, and I was looking at the beaming face of Kate de Vries.”

“Marry me." I said.She lowered her teacup, shaking slightly, to the saucer. "Aren't you going to get down on one knee?"I got down on one knee and took her hand."Will you marry me, Kate?"You can't propose properly without a ring." She said.I reached into my pocket and took out James Sanderson's ring, which I'd picked up off the floor of the Starclimber when we'd crash landed."That's a nice looking ring." said Kate with a grin."Cost a fortune." I said. "And now, for the third time. Kate de Vries, will you marry me?"She leaned forward and took my face in her hands and kissed me."Yes," "Yes, and yes and yes. But it will probably be terrible.""Probably," I agreed."Honestly," she sighed, "I don't know what kind of life we'll have together, with me always flying off in one direction and you in the other."I smiled. "It's a good thing the world's round," I said.”

“Why do you need to fly so much?” she asked.“If I don’t, it’ll catch up with me.” The words just came out.“What will?”I took my hands from my face, panting. I stared out at the storm.“Unhappiness.”

“Nadira gave Kate a long hard look. "Mr. Slater has the ship. Mr. Cruse has the coordinates. I have the key. What exactly do you have?"For the first time Kate looked flustered.”

“Traveling at night toward the stars, I thought yet again how very far away they were, and how you could travel your whole lifetime and never reach even the closest one. But even if you knew you couldn’t have something, it didn’t stop you wanting it. I wondered if Kate was to be my star, and I’d spend my life gazing upon her but never reaching her.”

“I poo poo the chit.'The attendant looked stunned. 'You cannot poo-poo the chit!'I do.' Kate said solemnly. 'I do poo-poo.'We'll walk.”

“What do you make of him?" I asked Elizabeth. "Apart from the fact he's clearly insane?""What can he learn from Konrad's blood?" I said. "Except that he needs it in his body to live!""There is something ghoulish about it.""He's like a vampyre,”