"I understood it would be months before the field crews cut us loose from the Terran ship," she said. "Indeed?" "Well? Won't it?" Perat turned his moody face toward her. "No, it won't. The field crews have been moving at breakneck speed, on account of some unfounded rumor or other that the Terran ship is going to explode. On orders from our High Command, we pull out of here by the end of the working day tomorrow. Within twenty metrons from now, our ship parts company with the enemy globe." The scar on her forehead was throbbing violently. There was no time now to send the false orders to the field crew she had selected. She must think a bit. "It seems then, this is our last night together." "It is." She rose from her couch and walked the room like a caged beast. "You could hardly take me, a commoner, back with you...." With growing shock she realized that she was more than half sincere in her request. "It is not done. It is unlike you to suggest it." "Well, that's that, I suppose." She stopped and toyed idly with a box of chessmen on his table. "Would you care for a game of Terran chess? I'll try to play very intelligently, so that you won't be too terribly bored." "If you like. But there are more interesting...." "Do you think," she interrupted quickly, "that you could beat me without sight of the board or pieces?" "What do you mean by that?" "I just thought it would be more interesting for you. I'll take the board over to my bed, and you call out your moves and I'll tell you my replies. I'll see the board, but you won't." "A curious variant." "But you must promise to keep out of my mind; otherwise you would know my plans." He smiled. "Set up the pieces. What color do you want?" "I'll defend. Give me black." She loosed her waist-purse, took a handkerchief from it, and set the purse on the deep carpet in the shadow of her table. She unfolded the chessboard in front of her on the couch and quickly placed the pieces. "I'm ready," she announced. Indeed, everything was in readiness now except that she didn't know where the cat was. She regretted bitterly not having killed that innocent mouser weeks ago. "Pawn to king four," announced Perat, gazing idly at the ceiling. She made the move and replied, "Pawn to king three." From the unlaced purse hidden on the floor a tiny head thrust itself out, followed soon by a pair of minuscule shoulders. "Have you studied this Terran game?" queried Perat curiously, "or don't you know enough to seize the center on your first move?" "Have I made an error already? Was that the wrong move?" "It's the first move in a complete defensive system, but few people outside of Terrans understand it. Pawn to queen four." She had blundered in attempting the French Defense, but it was not too late to convert to something that could be expected of a Scythian woman beginner. "Pawn to queen three." The grey doll was out of the purse, sidling through the shadows to the door, which stood slightly ajar.