"I'm on vacation now," said the man. Dalgetty did not reply in kind. After a moment—"You are too, I suppose?"
Dalgetty felt a slight shock. A personal question from a stranger—well, you didn't expect otherwise from someone like the girl Glenna but a professor should be better conditioned to privacy customs.
"Yes," he said shortly. "Just visiting."
"By the way, my name is Tyler, Harmon Tyler."
"Joe Thomson." Dalgetty shook hands with him.
"We might continue our conversation if you're going to be around for awhile," said Tyler. "You raised some interesting points."
Dalgetty considered. It would be worthwhile staying as long as Bancroft did, in the hope of learning some more. "I may be here a couple of days yet," he said.
"Good," said Tyler. He looked up at the sky. It was beginning to fill with stars. The deck was still empty. It ran around the dim upthrusting bulk of a weather-observation tower which was turned over to its automatics for the night and there was no one else to be seen. A few fluoros cast wan puddles of luminance on the plastic flooring.
Glancing at his watch, Tyler said casually, "It's about nineteen-thirty hours now. If you don't mind waiting till twenty hundred I can show you something interesting."
"What's that?"