Marsden blinked. She was talking to him.
"Good morning, Miss."
"So you're a native of Talbor. Tell me, how do you stand it?"
"Born here, I guess." Marsden found it difficult to talk and eat at the same time. His face grew uncomfortably warm, his tongue seemed to swell until he wanted to spit it out.
"I'm Alice Cooper, Mr.—"
Mister. No one had ever called him Mister. "Better call me Harry, Miss. Just Harry."
"I want you to tell me all about your primitive planet, Harry. Everything. I've got a camera and I'm going to take pictures and write notes about them so when I get back to Earth I can tell everyone about this quaint planet."
Marsden wished he had a shirt, for it wasn't right for Alice Cooper to have to see his sun-scorched, hair-matted chest while she ate. But Marsden felt somewhat better when he let his eyes rove to the men of Earth. They sat tall and straight in clothing fancier than it was right for a man to wear, but they were thin, pale and—well, a little washed-out looking.
"Why don't you show me around?" Alice Cooper suddenly asked him. "You can't see a place unless a native shows it to you, and we have to leave tonight."
"Tonight?"