 Why is Billy so drawn to Grannie Annie?
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Planet Stories Fall 1944. The rule that no females could pass its portals was strictly enforced. There she stood before a frantically gesticulating desk clerk, leaning on her faded green umbrella. "Mithter Trenwith, if thith lady ith a friend of yourth, you'll have to take her away. Pure fiddle-faddle, that's what they are. To her publishers and her readers she might be Annabella C. Flowers, author of a long list of science fiction novels. But to me she was still Grannie Annie, as old-fashioned as last year's hat, as modern as an atomic motor. Her annual income totaled into six figures, and her publishers sat back and massaged their digits, watching their earnings mount. If Annabella C. Flowers wrote a novel, and the locale was the desert of Mars, she packed her carpet bag and hopped a liner for Craterville. If she cooked up a feud between two expeditions on Callisto, she went to Callisto. Grannie spilled a few shreds of Martian tobacco onto a paper and deftly rolled herself a cigarette. Grannie Annie hailed a hydrocar. But the place was packed with miners, freight-crew-men—all the tide and wash of humanity that made Swamp City the frontier post it is. Grannie Annie pushed me into a seat in the front row. For every question missed, the sender will receive a check for one thousand planetoles . From the left wing Grannie Annie appeared. Doctor Universe nodded and turned to Grannie Annie who had raised her hand.
 She's an eccentric adventurer at heart, and compelling.
 She knows about the Green Flame and Billy wants to know more about them.  Her writing wows him.  She's a famous author. He's naturally drawn to that fame.  She's an eccentric adventurer at heart, and compelling.