It was an hour after sunset when Hendley saw the visitor. He was on
his way to the main Rec Hall, being unable to stay away on the night
of the show in spite of the torment he knew he would endure if Ann was
on stage. The glimpse of a red sleeve emblem out of the corner of his
eye was enough to make him jump hastily and precariously off the moving
walk. Regaining his balance, he looked around eagerly. The familiar
identification symbol stood out clearly among the mass of otherwise
identical white uniforms. This was the first visitor Hendley had seen
since his arrival in the Freeman Camp, and he knew that it was more
than curiosity, more than the memory of an experience shared by the
stranger, which made his heart pound as he began to follow the red
beacon on the visitor's arm.
The man seemed awed by the excitement and activity swirling around him.
Hendley wondered if he, too, had gazed about so eagerly on his first
night, if his eyes had been alight with the same glitter, if his lips
had been parted in a continuous expression of wonder. The visitor was
a solidly hewn block of a man with coarse black hair, the outline of
a heavy dark beard, and thighs and biceps so thick they stretched the
unusually loose-fitting coverall taut. But in spite of his muscular
bulk, the stranger moved with surprisingly light, quick steps. Standing
still, he looked heavy and ponderous; in motion he conveyed an
impression of dynamic strength held in check by an instinctive caution.
His alert, inquiring gaze missed nothing. Hendley had been following
him for no more than a few minutes before he realized that his own
curiosity had been too obvious. The visitor, pausing before the
entrance to a dance hall, turned suddenly to stare directly at Hendley.
The glance was bright and hard, but the man's mouth was smiling in a
friendly way.
Approaching him casually, Hendley returned the smile. "Your first
night?" he called out heartily.
"Was I that obvious?" the visitor asked. "It's no wonder. This is the
biggest night of my life!"
"I guess everyone feels that way," Hendley said. He tried to remember
how Nik had first cultivated him, but he quickly realized that the
circumstances had been different. Nik had been prepared. He'd been
waiting for a visitor to come. His every move had been carefully
planned. Was it madness to try to repeat his tactics without any
preparation, without help, without even a plan of attack?
"I'll bet there's a lot I'll miss on my own," the visitor said. The
comment was almost too fortuitous, as if he were offering himself as a
victim. "You must know everything there is to see."
Hendley could not resist the temptation. "I'll be glad to show you
around," he said.
"Great!" The muscular visitor punched Hendley enthusiastically on the
arm. "I didn't really want to ask, but I've only got one night, and I
certainly don't want to pass up anything special just because I didn't
know it was there!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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