Lyddy was curious about her husband-to-be and kept trying to find
out all about him. Fortunately, in the code of the Far Planets, a
man's past was his own business, so he was able to be evasive without
actually lying to her. Not that he had any scruples, about lying; it
was simply easier to tell as few stories as possible, rather than worry
about keeping them straight.
But it was all right to ask about a man's present. "Do you have
anybody, Len? Relations, anything like that?"
He frowned a little, remembering the boy on Fairhurst. "No," he said,
"I have no relatives. I have nobody."
Her face fell. "It would've been kind of nice to have a ready-made
family."
"Oh, I don't know," he said. "There are times when it's better to have
no family."
"Yeah, I guess you're right. They might not approve of me."
"We'll be everything to each other," he assured her.
There was a ghost of a sound then--a laugh or a sigh. He hoped she
didn't hear it.
The zhapik insisted on giving Lyddy's wedding, even though he himself
could, of course, be present only behind the screen. Most people said
the old E-T bastard knew a good piece of publicity when he saw it, but
Mattern thought it might be out of genuine sentiment. He was closer
to aliens than most men in this sector, any sector. Although he had
originally hailed from the Far Planets, he had traveled widely and lost
his prejudices. His best friend wasn't human.
Every human in Erytheia City was invited to the wedding. Mattern's four
crewmen came. Three were middle-aged and had sailed with Mattern for
years, but his most recent acquisition was a young man, almost a boy.
Something Raines, his name was. He kept staring at Lyddy as if he had
never seen a beautiful woman before, though, coming from Earth, he must
have seen many. Mattern was gratified at this tribute to his choice.
"Only four crewmen!" Lyddy said, looking disappointed. "You must have a
small ship."
Mattern smiled. "Not too small." He could see she didn't believe him.
Lyddy didn't seem to be enjoying her wedding. She kept glancing over
her shoulder all through the ceremony and during the reception. Finally
Mattern had to ask her what was wrong, although he would rather not
have known.
"Y'know, hon," she whispered, "I keep having the funniest feeling
there's somebody _extra_ here, somebody who doesn't belong. I haven't
quite seen him; he always seems to slip by so fast, but I don't even
think he's a man."
"Don't be silly, Lyddy," he said, almost sharply. "You know no
extraterrestrial would dare to crash a human party!"
"I guess not." But she still kept looking over her shoulder.
* * * * *
The zhapik invited them to remain at the Golden Apple Hotel as his
guests for as long as they liked. They stayed two months. Then Mattern
told his wife it was time they started planning their future, decided
where they were going to live. "You'll want a home of your own," he
said. "Otherwise you'll get bored."
"I'm never bored," said Lyddy. "But where will we go? I mean what
system?"
"Well, Erytheia is a pleasure planet, so I thought we might as well
stay here. There are some attractive residential neighborhoods on this
continent--or, if you'd prefer, the other one."