Thomas headed in toward the house to get his notebook and his engineering notes. He'd have to take over the engineer's job, no matter how distasteful.
Out of one corner of his eye he saw the chessboard and he stopped short. It had been the odd angle that gave the trap away but his moving of the knight had opened a line right down into his own defenses. On the next move there would be a severe attack against his queen, and in saving that, he'd lose the bishop. If he sacrificed the queen, he was as good as lost. In fact, it was checkmate no matter how long he fought; no matter what he did, it was only a question of three moves minimum or seven moves maximum.
Well, might as well give up. This game was gone and there was no use in fighting a losing battle—whipping a dead cat—
He opened the drawer and removed the little sign normally used to terminate a game without going through the formality of a checkmate.
But the sign had been augmented. It read:
THE END.