The ship and its crew
would travel indefinitely without a lack of sponsors. But for once,
Cochrane agreed entirely with Holden.
"We're heading back," he told Babs, "because if we keep on, people will
accept our shows as just another superior kind of escape-entertainment.
They'll have the dream quality of 'You Win a Million' and the
lottery-shows. They'll be things to dream about but never to think of
doing anything about. We're going to make the series disappointingly
short, in order to make it more convincingly factual. We won't spin it
out for its entertainment-value until it practically loses everything
else."
"No," said Babs. She put her hand in his. She'd found it necessary to
remind him, now and then.
So the ship started home. And it would not return direct to Earth--or
Lunar City--for a very definite reason. Cochrane meant to have all his
business affairs neatly wrapped up before landing. They could get
another show or two across, and some highly involved contracts could be
haggled to completion more smoothly if one of the parties--Spaceways,
Inc.--was not available except when it felt like being available.
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