Six doors were now open. The only two that remained closed were the ones that the Kanes had unwillingly entered.

This time, no invisible hand thrust us into any of the rooms.

I entered the nearest one. Verana followed hesitantly.

The walls of the large room were lined with shelves containing thousands of variously colored boxes and bottles. A table and four chairs were located in the center of the green, plasticlike floor. Each chair had no back, only a curving platform with a single supporting column.

"Ed!" I joined Verana on the other side of the room. She pointed a trembling finger at some crude drawings. "The things in this room are food!"

The drawings were so simple that anyone could have understood them. The first drawing portrayed a naked man and woman removing boxes and bottles from the shelves. The second picture showed the couple opening the containers. The third showed the man eating from one of the boxes and the woman drinking from a bottle.

"Let's see how it tastes," I said.

I selected an orange-colored box. The lid dissolved at the touch of my fingers.

The only contents were small cubes of a soft orange substance.

I tasted a small piece.

"Chocolate! Just like chocolate!"

Verana chose a nearby bottle and drank some of the bluish liquid.

"Milk!" she exclaimed.

"Perhaps we'd better look at the other rooms," I told her.

The next room we examined was obviously for recreation. Containers were filled with dozens of strange games and books of instructions in the form of simple drawings. The games were foreign, but designed in such a fashion that they would be interesting to Earthmen.

Two of the rooms were sleeping quarters. The floors were covered with a spongy substance and the lights were dim and soothing.

Another room contained a small 

 Prev. P 7/15 next