He said, finally, "We'll have to wait. Ferdias' man is bound to be along soon." "You mean—perhaps stay here all night?" said Lyllin. "But food, and beds—" "We'd better look around," he said unhappily. They found fairly new blankets on the beds. And in the old kitchen cupboards was food in the self-heating plastipacks. "We can make out," he said. "But it's a hell of a thing." While Lyllin prepared their supper, he went out and restlessly walked around the place. The weedy yard ran into brushy fields and nearby woods. The old barn was empty, and the outbuildings were shabby and forlorn. He did not think much of Earth, if this was a sample. He went back inside, and helped Lyllin solve the puzzle of an ancient sink. Even the reddening sunset light pouring through the windows could not make the old wooden walls and worn cupboards look less dingy. He said so, and Lyllin smiled. "It's not so bad. We'll eat out on that back porch—it's less musty there." The porch was not screened, and friendly insects dropped in upon them as they ate. The whole western sky was a flare of red, great bastions of crimson cloud building ever higher. Under the sunset, beyond the fields, the ragged woods brooded darkly. A small animal came soundlessly out of the high grass and stared at them with greenish eyes. "What is it, Kirk—a wild creature?" He looked. "It's a cat, that's what it is. An Earthman in the Stardream had one for a pet, kept it at Base. He called it Tom." He tossed a bit of food onto the step. "Here, Tom." The cat stalked carefully forward, eyed them coldly, then bent to the food. After a moment it turned its back on them and departed. Darkness fell. Kirk began to feel a little desperation. Ferdias' man hadn't come. What if he didn't come at all? How long could they wait in this forgotten backwater, not knowing what was going on out there in deep space? Lyllin said, "Isn't it possible your man is waiting in Orville, that village—and doesn't know you're here?" "It could be, I suppose." Kirk grasped at the
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