Blish,James – And all the Stars a Stage

bad been kindly supplied a sort of breech-clout or dhoti which prevented

the many different chairs he had to sit in from tattooing his bottom

indelibly, but that was all. When they were over, however, he was led back

to his clothes and allowed to resume the terrified and nearly famished

Tabath; she fairly leapt onto his arm, on which she found more than enough

nervous perspiration to sate

And all the Stars a Stage 27

her hunger and make her grow half an inch in length in the bargain. To

Jorn’s consternation, however, his suit itself was immediately whisked away;

he was given instead a tailored coverall of totally strange design. He was

somewhat mollified to find that it fitted him far better than the suit ever

had, and that it was of expensive material and fine workmanship; an the same

it had so many pockets, zippers, tags, and attachments of odd location and

unknown functionincluding many metal devices which looked for all the world

like latch-staples-that even its undoubtable luxuriousness made him feel

more nervous and outr6 than ever.

Then back into the labyrinth again, to a new room which proved instead to

be a small but well-appointed apartment. Here he was given an excellent

dinner; and, for a wonder, left for nearly three hours entirely to himself

and-insofar as he could tell-unobserved. He was grateful; he had plenty to

think about.

On the whole, though it had been a gruelling day, it had not been a bad

one. At the very least it had seldom been dull, as most of his ordinary

days were; he had been occupied every minute until now. Furthermore, he had