He mentally kicked himself. He wondered whether Joan Forbes would
have made a difference in his life. She might have been the outlet to
pent-up feelings that he needed so badly. Joan would have given him
rest without asking suspicious questions. It might have been better--
But Joan was dead, and though Thomakein claimed that she would have
been there anyway, it did little to cheer him up. Thomakein's reasoning
did not include the possibility that Joan might have been making a home
for him, or that even the tiniest mite of family would have immobilized
her against following a planet invasion.
Joan Forbes, thought Maynard, might have been the answer--but at the
present time she was another blind alley of thought. _Might have been_
is the cry of the second-guesser; the Monday Morning Quarterback.
* * * * *
The sense of thermal balance that was high in Maynard warned him first.
Then that sense that tells of another sentient being close by, its
warning, and Guy turned to see a small figure beside him on the bridge.
"Elanane," she said.
"Don't say it," he warned softly. "I can watch the stars, too."
"They're so silent and quiet and big."
"And peaceful," agreed Guy.
"I've been lonesome," said Leilanane plaintively. It was with effort
that Maynard resisted the impulse to put his hand on her shoulder.
"Are you now?" he asked softly.