[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Astounding Science-Fiction, July 1946.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Tom Lionel, Consulting Engineer, awoke with a shake of his head. At
once, he was out of bed. He consulted first the calendar and then the
clock. The thought struck him funny. He hadn't been drinking, but the
idea of looking at a calendar upon awakening might be construed as an
admission that he didn't know what time of what day it was.
_Or mayhap what month._
"Ding it," he grunted. "I've been away again."
He dressed by stages. At the trousers department, Tom wandered out into
the living room and stood over a chessboard, studying the set-up. The
opponent had moved the queen to the rook's fourth, menacing his bishop.
Tom smiled and moved his knight to his knight's sixth and checked the
opponent's king on the rook's first, and the queen simultaneously. He
slid the drawer below the table open and removed a little standing
sign that said, in red, block letters: