"Tomar wanted you to know about it. He said you might be interested in some of its aspects." "Tomar?" "Just like I monitored your phone calls, I overheard him talking to another soldier about it before he--before the crash. He just thought you'd be interested." "Oh," she said. She moved the silver circle away from the others, put the dislocated copper coins back in the square again, and flipped the smaller coin once more. Two different coins jumped away. "Damn," Clea said, softly. "Huh?" He looked up. Tears were running down her face. "Damn," she said. "It hurts." She blinked and looked up again. "What about you? You still haven't told me all that's happened to you. Wait a moment." She reached for her notebook, took a pencil up, and made a note. "An idea?" he asked. "From the game," she told him. "Something I hadn't thought of before." He smiled. "Does that solve all your problems on--what were they--sub-trigonometric functions?" "Inverse sub-trigonometric functions," she said. "No. It doesn't go that simply. Did you stop your war?" "I tried," he said. "It doesn't go that simply." "Are you free?" "Yes." "I'm glad. How did it come about?" "I used to be a very hardheaded, head-strong, sort of stupid kid, who was always doing things to get me into more trouble than it would get the people I did it to. That was about my only criterion for doing anything. Unfortunately I didn't do it very well. So now, still head-strong, maybe not quite so stupid, I've at least picked up a little skill. I had to do something where the main point wasn't whether it hurt me or not. They just had to be done. I had to go a long way, see a lot of things, and I guess it sort of widened my horizons, gave me some room to move around-some more freedom." "Childhood and a prison mine doesn't give you very much, does it?" "No." "What about the war, Jon?" "Let's put it this way. As far as what's on the other side of the radiation barrier, which is pretty much out of commission now, there's no need for a war. None whatsoever. If that gets seen and understood by the people who have to see and understand it, then fine. If not, well then, it isn't that simple. Look, Clea, I just came by for a few minutes. I want to get out of the house before Dad sees me. Keep on talking to him. I'll be disappearing for a while, so you'll have to do it. Just don't bother to tell him I'm alive." "Jon...." He smiled. "I mean I want to do it myself when I come back." She looked down a moment, and when she looked up he was going back into the house. She started to say good-bye, but bit back the words. Instead, she sat down at the table; she opened the notebook; she cried a little bit. Then she started writing again. * * * * * THREE AGAINST INFINITY