One green, shapeless hand dug into a pocket attached to the outer surface of Leethveeschi’s protective envelope and withdrew a small, plastic box, which it tossed onto the bed beside him.
“These are used by your species, among others,” it continued, “to remove food scraps adhering to the spaces between their teeth. Doubtless you will find another use for them. Good luck.”
After the charge nurse left them it was Bowab who was the first to find its voice.
“Toothpicks, a full box!” it said. “We had to divide half a box among us. Hewlitt, you are a millionaire!”
CHAPTER 11
The game was not as complicated as Hewlitt had first thought, even though it was played with a pack containing seventy-five cards in five fifteen-card suits, each with its own individual symbol and color: blue crescents, red spears, yellow shields, black serpents, and green trees. The highest-value cards were the Ruler, his-heror-its Mate, and the Heir, followed in descending order by the values twelve to one. Unlike the Earth games he knew, where the ace had the highest value, the Poor One, as it was called, was the lowest card-except when a hand contained a twelve of the same suit, in which case the combination could depose one of the three riding cards.
There were historic and sociopolitical implications to the game, the others explained, in that the merging of the lowest and the highest non-Ruler cards signified a popular uprising, a palace revolution, or, in present times, a successful corporate takeover. Three, four, or five cards of the same number in different suits had particular values, and if the hand also contained a ten it could depose two of an opponent’s Rulers. There were other combinations of numbers and symbols of lesser power which were capable ofreducing the value of an opponents’ single cards or combinations, but Hewlitt thought that it would take a little time to learn them all.
The players could request an extra card free during the first three rounds of the game, but were required to discard it or another from their hands each time, and after that they had to buy the cards from the dealer, called the Ruler of the Game, by raising the stake. Players who did not buy extra cards either had bad hands and were unwilling to waste money, or very good ones and were sitting tight.
A further complication was that each player had two discard piles of up to three cards placed faceup, but only he, she, or it knew which pile was for permanent discard and which was for returning to the hand, if required, before the end of the game. It was possible to discover which was the true discard pile by studying the body language of an opponent, always bearing in mind the possibility that it was probably generating false signals.
“During the first few games we will go easy on you,” said Horrantor, with an untranslatable sound that might have been the Tralthan equivalent of laughter, “and point out your mistakes as we go. I think you now understand the rules well enough for us to begin.”
“But not well enough,” said Bowab, hunching closer to the bed, “to begin cheating.”
“Cheating, yes,” the Tralthan went on. “You must always remember, Patient Hewlitt, that your opponents will try to cheat; that is, to take unfair advantage of you in any way possible to them. This includes using their physiological differences against you. For example, it may not have occurred to you that, with me standing as I am next to you, one of my eyes can be extended laterally so as to see across your hand. There is also the fact that Duthans have the ability to sharpen the focus of their eyes when the object, in this case your own eyes, are remaining at a fixed distance. The reflection of your cards in your eyes is clear, especially the card you are lifting into your hand, so you should obscure your opponent’s view by slitting your eyes and looking through the unsightly fringes of hair on the edges of your upper and lower eyelids. More subtle methods of cheating will be used against you which, in the beginning, we will allow you to detect and counter for yourself.”