planet_? she thought to herself. "You've
never been to Lyria, then, have you?"

"... we were very young when we left."

He doesn't even know he's a native of Earth! Julia thought. "You know,"
she said, "I'll bet I know more about you than you think I do."

That brought a fear reaction from Walt.

_You don't need to be afraid of me_, Julia thought soothingly.

(She had scarcely half an hour left before the aliens shut off the big
transmitter.)

"How soon.... When will we get to the hotel?"

"Soon, now," Julia said.

"We'll be alone?" Walt said.

"We'll have a chance to talk; there are a lot of things for us to talk
about."

"Yes," he said. He began to rub his hands over one another. His growing
excitement and his hatred bubbled just below the surface of his mind;
Julia could feel the emotions without him being aware that she could.

My, she thought. He's going to take a lot of re-educating before he
makes a very good husband.

* * * * *

When they entered the hotel room, Walt found his throat expanding with
excitement.

Forential, he thought, will be pleased that I have killed her in secret.
No one on Earth will ever know who she was killed by. When she is dead,
I can slip out of the hotel and ... and invisible, I can steal food and
drink and stay in empty rooms until the invasion comes; and when it
does, then I can start teleporting earthlings and slaying them with my
hands, and.... She doesn't suspect, he thought, that I am going to kill
her in just a moment.

He complimented himself on how cleverly he had concealed his intentions.

Covertly he surveyed the room. The pitcher on the table? The chair? What
with? A sudden numbing blow--like the blow Calvin delivered to John.
Then, afterwards, hands, knees, fingers--and she will be dead.

He saw himself rising triumphant from her still body. Saw Forential
(when, later, he heard of it) smiling approval, saw his mates listening
awe struck.... His breath trembled in his throat; his arms ached to be
moving.

"Won't you sit down?" she said.

I will wait until she is off guard, he thought. Smiling in anticipation,
he sat down.

... she doesn't, he thought, seem like a traitor. Such bright, clear
eyes. She seems, so nice, so trusting, so innocent. It was foolish to
have been afraid of meeting her. She's small and harmless. I wish she
weren't a traitor; maybe--

But Forential knows.

(How about the war? Why did Forential