* * * * *
He learned that the little dome consisted of three rooms, each shaped
like pieces of a fluffy pie with narrow concrete hallways between.
His room served as a bedroom and he discovered that Maggie slept on a
pneumatic cot in the kitchen. The third room, opening into the airlock,
housed a small hydroponics garden, sunlamp, short-wave visi-radio, and
such emergency equipment as oxygen tanks, windsuits, and vita-rations.
It was here that Simple Simon remained most of the time, tending the
garden or peering into the viewscreen that revealed the terrain outside
the dome.
Maggie prepared Ben's meals, bringing them to him on a tray until he
was able to sit at a table. As his paralysis diminished, he helped
her with cooking--with Simple Simon standing by as a mute, motionless
observer.
Occasionally Maggie would talk of her girlhood in a small town in
Missouri and how she'd dreamed of journeying to the stars.
"'Stars are for boys,' they'd tell me, but I was a queer one. While
other gals were dressing for their junior proms, I'd be in sloppy
slacks down at the spaceport with Jacob."
She laughed often--perhaps in a deliberate attempt to disguise the
omnipresent tension. And her laughter was like laughter on Earth,
floating through comfortable houses and over green fields and through
clear blue sky. When she laughed, she possessed a beauty.
Despite her pale face and lack of makeup, Ben realized that she was no
older than he.
_If I'd only known her back on Earth_, he thought. _If I_--And then he
told himself, _You've got enough problems. Don't create another one!_
Finally, except for a stiffness in his leg joints, he'd fully recovered.
"How much time do I have?" he asked.
"Before you decide?"
"Yes."
"Very little. Jacob's ship is on its way. It'll be here--well, you
can't tell about these things. Two or three Earth days, maybe even
tomorrow. It'll stay in Hoover City long enough to discharge and load
cargo. Then it'll stop here for us and return to--to our new base."
"What do you think Jacob would do if I didn't want to go with him?"
* * * * *