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 straw. "I'll go down to the village. If he's there, he'll see me. Mind waiting—just in case someone does come here?"
She said she didn't mind. But he took the compact shocker from his coat-pocket and left it for her before he went out.
Kirk drove rapidly down the lonely, dark road to the village. But the little town looked dark and lonely too, when he got there. The shops were almost all closed. He saw only a few people. It was very quiet. In the shadows of the square, the old iron soldier stood stiffly.
The lights of a tavern caught Kirk's eye, and he went toward it. It seemed about the only place where his man might be, and he needed a drink anyway. He shouldered in, and instantly a small buzz of talk fell silent. Kirk went to the bar, and the men at the farther end of it followed him with their eyes. The tavern-keeper, a bustling, skinny man, hurried up and tried to act as though a deep-space naval Commander was no unusual visitor at all.