Two weeks later, very late at "night", Perat lay stretched gloomily on
his sleeping couch. On the other side of the room Evelyn was curled
luxuriously on her own damasked lounge, her head propped high. She was
scanning some of the miniature stereop reels that Perat had brought
from his far-distant home planet.
"Those green trees and hedges ... so far away," she mused. "Do you ever
think about seeing them again?"
"Of late, I've been thinking about them quite a bit."
What did he mean by that?
"I understood it would be months before the field crews cut us loose
from the Terran ship," she said.
"Indeed?"
"Well? Won't it?"
Perat turned his moody face toward her. "No, it won't. The field crews
have been moving at breakneck speed, on account of some unfounded rumor
or other that the Terran ship is going to explode. On orders from
our High Command, we pull out of here by the end of the working day
tomorrow. Within twenty metrons from now, our ship parts company with
the enemy globe."
The scar on her forehead was throbbing violently. There was no time now
to send the false orders to the field crew she had selected. She must
think a bit.
"It seems then, this is our last night together."
"It is."
She rose from her couch and walked the room like a caged beast.
"You could hardly take me, a commoner, back with you...."
With growing shock she realized that she was more than half sincere in
her request.
"It is not done. It is unlike you to suggest it."
"Well, that's that, I suppose." She stopped and toyed idly with a box
of chessmen on his table. "Would you care for a game of Terran chess?
I'll try to play very intelligently, so that you won't be too terribly
bored."
"If you like. But there are more interesting...."
"Do you think," she interrupted quickly, "that you could beat me
without sight of the board or pieces?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"I just thought it would be more interesting for you. I'll take the
board over to my bed, and you call out your moves and I'll tell you my
replies. I'll see the board, but you won't."
"A curious variant."
"But you must promise to keep out of my mind; otherwise you would know
my plans."