He walked to the blank wall of the room and again tapped rhythmically on it until a low doorway opened. He stooped and disappeared. John immediately tried to repeat the tapping combination, but the wall remained as solid as if it were stone.
In the quiet room there was little sense of time. Food came in to them automatically after an hour or so. They were too excited to think of sleep.
At last the wall opening appeared again and Zingar returned, leading a beautiful, brown-haired girl by the hand. She was tall and dressed in pale blue transparencies, with a tight purple girdle, and a gleaming silver star surmounted her soft hair like a coronet.
John stared. In all his many and easy adventures with women he had never seen anyone like her. There was a fragility to her body yet the glow of health. Her eyes were luminous, of a warm green shade, and they seemed to hold strange secrets. Her body was identical with an Earth woman's except that the fingers were smoothly longer and the high forehead was slightly more prominent. He felt some hypnotic influence flow from her into his mind, and involuntarily stepped forward, then stopped, suddenly remembering his companion. He had not thrilled like this since he was seventeen.
Across the room, Hilda clasped the wrinkled glove on her artificial hand, until the fingers of her right hand were white, but she smiled and talked to Doctor Smithson as if she had not noticed.
"We will go now," said Zingar, taking command of the little party. "In the hallway are insulated suits for protection against our midnight cold. The ship will be warm, but we must step from the desert to your underground entrance. I do not think we will be hindered. The Old Ones sleep soundly." It was almost miraculous that his accent and hesitation disappeared so rapidly, perhaps because he was still relatively young and adaptable.
Their small round ship flared over the blackened planet; its rays, that had been invisible in the daylight, were now gleaming silent jets on the dimly starlit desert. Dr. Smithson, Jake, and Hilda sat together at the rear of their cabin compartment. John and Zingar's lovely sister stared into the night ahead. He had not touched her yet, but he felt drawn to her with a strange compulsion, partly spiritual. Her name was Molaee.
Mary and Zingar were now frankly in love, and sat with arms around each other, quietly content, as if they had never been strangers. The Mind Sounder was attached to her gleaming hair by its smooth round disk and she seemed to be pouring her whole life into Zingar's eager mind. All maidenly reserve had vanished. None of his questions embarrassed her.
That's a good thing, thought John, noticing them. Mary will keep him with us, and he will make her come to life.