human
Hello, Max. Making an honest man of yourself at last?
gpt
Not on your life, Hawkes said.
human
I came up here to do some checking. Alan, this is Hines MacIntosh, Keeper of the Records. Hines, want you to meet a starman friend of mine. Alan Donnell.
gpt
Starman, eh? MacIntosh's pudgy face went suddenly grave.
human
Well, boy, I hope you know how to get along on an empty stomach. Free Status life isn't easy.
gpt
No, Alan said.
human
You don't under----
gpt
He's just in the city on leave, Hines. His ship blasts off in a couple of days and he figures to be on it. But he's trying to track down his brother, who jumped ship nine years back.
human
I suppose you drew a blank in the big room downstairs?
gpt
Yes.
human
Not surprising. We get these ship-jumping starmen all the time up here; they never do get work cards, it seems. What's that thing on your shoulder, boy?
gpt
He's from Bellatrix VII.
human
Intelligent?
gpt
I should say so! Rat burst in indignantly.
human
Just because I have a certain superficial physiological resemblance to a particular species of unpleasant Terran rodent----
gpt
Ease up! I didn't mean to insult you, friend! But you'll have to apply for a visa if you're going to stay here more than three days.
human
Visa?
gpt
The boy's going back on his ship, I told you. He won't need a visa, or the alien either.
human
Be that as it may, MacIntosh said.
gpt
So you're looking for your brother, boy? Give me the specifications, now. Name, date of birth, and all the rest.
human
His name is Steve Donnell, sir. Born 3576. He jumped ship in----
gpt
Born _when_, did you say?
human
They're spacers,
gpt
Go ahead.
human
Jumped ship in 3867--I think. It's so hard to tell what year it is on Earth.
gpt
And physical description?
human
He was my twin, Alan said.
gpt
Identical twin.
human
I don't remember any spacers of that name, he said,
gpt
You do?
human
Oh, fifteen or twenty a year, at least--and that's in this office alone. They're forever getting stranded on leave and losing their ships. Why, there was one boy who was robbed and beaten in the Frisco Enclave and didn't wake up for a week. Naturally he missed his ship, and no other starship would sign him on. He's on Free Status now, of course. Well, let's see about Donnell Steve Male, shall we? You realize the law doesn't require Free Status people to register with us, and so we may not necessarily have any data on him in our computer files?
gpt
I realize that,