Nadia opened her mouth to speak, but closed it. She was peering beyond him, Gavin realized, a frightened expression on her pretty slavic features. Gavin swung around.
Captain Josiah Cabot stood in the door way, swaying slightly.
His eyes were glazed. Fine cruel wrinkles crossed his lean face. He moved stiffly into the messroom, his eyes straight ahead, and sat down at a table like a mechanical doll. He didn't even see them, Gavin realized with a start.
The black man came out of the pantry with a bottle of Terran whiskey and a glass, and set them before the Captain. The negro's eyes rolled, showing the whites. He got back into his pantry as quick as possible.
Nadia leaned across the table to Gavin. "He's drunk. He'll stay drunk until after the little death. It's horrible!"
Suddenly the Captain burst into a roar of laughter. He poured himself a drink and gulped it greedily. He said in an unexpectedly ringing voice:
"I see you, Paula. Why don't you go back to hell where you belong? You can't touch me now," and burst into laughter again, staring at the empty doorway.
A cold chill shivered up Gavin's spine.
Nadia said, "Paula was his mistress. She tried to poison him. He strangled her and threw her body out the disposal chute!"