Later that evening as I was packing my things I heard another knock at the door. This time it was Alan. "I heard you were leaving," he said hesitantly.       "Hello, Alan," I acknowledged. "Yes, you heard right."       "Do you really have to go?" he said, rather to my surprise. There was something in his eyes I couldn't quite read.       "I think I do," I answered after a moment. "I wanted to tell you," I said by way of changing the subject, "that was a wonderful piece of work you did. If it hadn't been for you there would have been an awful bloodbath back there."       "Thank Will," he said. "It was his idea. I just did the technical stuff." I suppressed my surprise. This really was a different Alan than the one I'd been clashing with for so long. I realized then what it was that I saw in his eyes, and I knew I couldn't face it at this of all times.       "Senaria," he hesitated. "I--"       I cut him off as gently as I could. "Alan, I've got to finish my packing. I'm sure you understand. I'll see you again someday. That's a promise." We made some more small talk for a few minutes, and then he left. As I watched his departing figure, I finally realized just what a lonely man he was.       I left for Qozernon the next afternoon on a regular passenger liner, accompanied only by Tora. Will offered to take me in the Futaba, but I told him I was looking forward to the three-day journey, and promised to send him the account you're reading now as soon as I could bring myself to finish it. And, as you can see, I did.

THE THREE MINDS. Copyright © 1998, 2000, 2001 Lamont Downs. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

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