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While Kalna was speaking, Ilmuth had given me a goblet of the delicious fruit juice. | noticed that both girls were dressed in pilot uniforms and | felt sure this meant a trip into space. There were many men present and eight women, in-eluding Kalna and IImuth. The other women were dressed in the same kind of lovely gowns the latter two had worn when first | met them. The men were in comfortable shirts and trousers. Again everyone wore sandals. Although no introductions were made, | did not miss them, for all greeted me as friends, and a few even called me by name. When the salutations were over, | became aware of soft music in the background, a little reminiscent of what we call Oriental. Although Ramu had been given a goblet of the juice, | noticed that my other friends did not join us. This was explained when Ilmuth said, ?We must go to our posts now to carry out the surprise Ka]Jna mentioned. This time, Ramu will stay with you.? As Orthon and Kalna left in one direction, Firkon and Ilmuth started toward the opposite end of the ship. Ramu and | sipped our drinks in silence for a few moments. | was happy to be a part of the warmth and joyousness that pervaded this room. It helped to keep in the background the feeling of sadness over the parting that would take place tonight. Several groups were playing games that were strange to me and Ramu, noticing my interest, suggested that we stroll around for a closer view. Four of the men were seated at a small table playing a game with cards. These were quite different from ours, though much the same size. There were no numbers on them, but all had markings representing something. | looked to see if any two were alike, but, so far as | could see, none were. Another group of men were rolling little colored balls along a smooth board. | guessed that these must have been charged with some kind of magnetism, since there were no grooves in the board and yet the balls did not move freely. Certain ones seemed to do the attracting, drawing the others toward them. Another game somewhat resembled our table tennis, except that two balls were kept in play simultaneously, for which great skill was obviously required. The women seemed very good at this. | was struck by the absence of loud talking, laughing or other distractions. Everyone was obviously enjoying himself, and able to do so without becoming raucous over it as so often happens on Earth. Nor did anyone seem to take the games seriously, as so many of us do. The atmosphere was one of gaiety and relaxation. Often the players glanced up at us with friendly smiles. Some spoke to us and | found myself still amazed to hear these people speaking so fluently in my tongue. After awhile, Ramu suggested, ?Shall we go to the control room? There are some things to show you in there which | am certain you will find interesting.? With our drinks still in hand, | gladly followed him into the large room with the many charts, graphs and instruments which | had seen on my first visit to this ship.