Chapter IV

"Sit down, Captain," said Nestir, when the captain entered. "No. Over there, in the comfortable chair. There. Are you comfortable, Captain?"

"Of course I am."

"Good. I have a question to ask you, Captain."

"I say?"

Nestir rubbed his bald head. "Sir," he said by way of preamble, "I know you have the greatest sensibility in questions of duty."

"That's quite so, y'know. I pride myself upon it, if I do say so."

"Exactly. _Argot y calpex._ No sacrifice is too great."

"True; true."

"Well, then, say the first day of Wenslaus, that would be--ah, a Zentahday--I may depend upon you to wed Wanda Miller, the bosun's daughter, yes?"

"No," said the captain.

"Come now, sir. I realize she is the daughter of a crewman, but--"

"Father," said the captain, "did I ever tell you about the time I led an expeditionary force against Zelthalta?"

"I don't believe you have."

"Then I will tell you. Came about this way. I was given command of fifty-three thousand Barains. Savage devils. Uncivilized, but fine fighters. I was to march them ninety-seven miles across the desert that...."

"Captain! I fear I must be very severe with you. I will be forced to announce in the mess hall this evening that you have refused to do your duty when it was plainly and properly called to your attention."

"Very well, Father," the captain said after several minutes. "I will do it."

He was trembling slightly.

* * * * *

That morning was to be the time of the captain's wedding. He had insisted that it be done in privacy. For the ceremony, he refused to make the slightest change in his everyday uniform; nor would he consent to Nestir's suggestion that he carry a nosegay of hydroponic flowers. He had intended, after the ceremony, to go about his duty as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened; but after it was done with, the vast indignity of it came home to him even more poignantly than he had imagined it would.

Without a word, he left the priest's stateroom and walked slowly, ponderously, with great dignity, to his own.

It was a very fine stateroom. The finest, but for Nestir's, in the whole ship. The velvet and gold drapes (his single esthetic joy) were scented with exotic perfume. The carpet was an inch and a half thick.

He walked through his office without breaking his stride.

The bed was large and fluffy. An unbroken expanse of white coverlette jutting out from the far bulkhead. It looked as soft as feather down.

Without even a sigh, he threw himself upon the bed and lay very, very quiet. His left leg was suspended in the air, intersecting, at the thigh, the plane of the coverlet at forty-five degrees; the number of degrees remained stiffly, unrelaxingly forty-five.

Only after a long, long time did he roll over on his back and then it was merely to stare fixedly at the ceiling.

It is entirely possible that he would have lain there until Doomsday had not his introspection been, around noon, interrupted by an apologetic tap on the door.

"Come in," he whispered, hoping she would not hear him and go away.

But she heard him.

"Husband," Wanda said simply. She closed the door behind her and stood staring at him.

"Madam," he said, "I hope you will have the kindness not to refer to me by that indecent appelation a second time."

"Gee. You say the cutest things. I'm awful glad you had to marry me, huh."

The captain stood up, adjusted his coat and his shoulders, and walked across the room to the dressing table. He opened the left-hand drawer, removed a bottle, poured himself half a water-glass full and drank it off.

"Ah," he said.

He returned to the bed and sat down.

"Can'tcha even say hello ta little ol' me, huh?" she asked.

"Hello," he said. "Madam, sit down. I intend to give you an instructive lecture in the natural order of...."

"Huh?"

"Ah," he said. "Quite true, of course."

She walked over to the chair and sat down. "I don't like them," she said. "Them cloth things over there."

"Those, Madam," he said, "are priceless drapes I had imported from the province of San Xalthan. They have a long, strange history.

"About three thousand years ago, a family by the name of Soong was forced to flee from the city of Xan because the eldest son of the family had become involved in a conspiracy against the illustrious King Fod. As the Soong family was traveling...."

"I don't like 'em anyway," said Wanda.

"Madam," said the captain, "kindly bring me that."

"This?"

"Yes. Thank you."

He took the doll from her. He got up again, walked to the chest of drawers, searched around for a penknife. Finally he located it under a stack of socks.

He returned to the bed. Sitting on the edge, he began to rip the doll along the seams with the penknife. Very carefully he emptied the sawdust out upon the carpet, and with equal deliberation, he cut up the canvas covering into small patches. Within fifteen minutes, for he worked very slowly, the doll was completely destroyed.

He laid the penknife on the night stand by his bed. He took out a match and struck it across the bottom of his shoe; he bent over and ignited the remains of the doll.

"You'll burn yer rug," Wanda said.

"Yes," the captain said, "I will. Be so kind as to close the door when you leave."