Before long, someone mentioned food. There was some mild enthusiasm from the others, but not much. Everyone knew that all there was to eat were capsules that would provide nourishment but little enjoyment. Gino made a face when the capsule bottle was passed to him and he shook two of the pellets out into his hand. “To think that I would ever have to make a meal of these things,” he said sadly, “I, who at one time or another, have served up the grandest dishes ever put together.” All ate silently. Since the additional talk about Ben, it was as if cold water had been poured over their spirits. After the brief meal the captain suggested that the lights be turned down and everyone try to get a “night” of sleep. “I think all of us are brain fagged and bored after all that has happened,” he said. “Maybe there’ll be someone knocking on our air-lock door before we wake up.” No one objected to the idea, as it seemed to be the only thing left for them to do. When everyone was settled down for the “night,” Captain Eaton cut off all lights within the flier. It was still not very dark in the flier because outdoors it was brighter than the brightest moonlight night on earth, owing to the brilliant glow of earthshine. “If our rescuers do not show up some time tomorrow,” Captain Eaton said, “we had better start cutting back on our battery power. That will mean no lights inside, except use of the flashlight in the cabinet, and less warmth. I have a feeling that our batteries will play out before any of our other supplies do.” When Garry woke the next “morning,” he heard some of the others stirring about. Patch was standing over him with two tablets and Garry’s personal water bottle which squeezed the liquid into one’s mouth. “What’s this?” Garry mumbled. “Time for my medicine?” “Medicine nothing,” Patch replied. “This, son, is breakfast. Or would you prefer nice crisp bacon and fluffy scrambled eggs?” “Aw, Patch, cut it out,” Garry pleaded. “You don’t have to make this any tougher than it is!” Garry took the food pills, chewing them slowly to get what little flavor there was in them. Then he finished off with the water, which was little more than enough to wet his throat. “Gee, the captain has really rationed the water, hasn’t he?” Garry whispered. “He cut it back even further this morning,” Patch replied. “Know why? Because nobody came knocking on our air lock as he had hoped maybe they would. On top of that, I heard him say he was going to run another close inventory on all our life-supporting items to see how much is left.” “Gosh, do you think he’s afraid _no_ one will be knocking any time soon?” “I don’t know,” Patch replied, “but he has been frowning quite a bit this morning.” The captain presently made it clear to all why he had been doing so much frowning.