Blish,James – And all the Stars a Stage

gotten two first class meals out of it, and an expensive-though funny-new

outfit (providing that they planned to let him keep it; that, of course,

was not any too likely). And it had certainly all been novel; even if he

failed to get the job, he could while away many a day to come with wonder-

ing what it could have been, playing with the manifold clues which had been

heaped upon him today like pieces in the world’s most mammoth cutout pic-

ture puzzle.

As the third hour progressed, however, he found himself first becoming

gradually relaxed in spite of

28 James Blish

himself, and then imperceptibly crossing the line from there into

restiveness. It was all very well to treat a superfluous male job applicant

like a captive king, but he knew better than to suppose that it was being

done out of pure nobility. There had to be A rationale behind this elaborate

series of procedures; and now that he had been given the chance to recover

his strength, his breath and his perspective, he felt an increasing urgency

to get on with it. Even a labyrinth, after all, is supposed to have a

heart-or at least, an exit.

Then there was a knock, and while he was still considering this unusual

amenity, the door opened soundlessly. The young woman who came in could

hardly have been any older than he was; in fact, though he was abominably

poor at judging such matters–any woman with a reasonably competent or

sophisticated manner usually struck him as being older than Jorn was-he

thought she might well be younger. She was certainly very feminine; though