Tilting the Balance

“Girls’ dormitory, ” a soldier answered, pointing northward. Grinning, he went on, “Jeez, I dreamed for years of getting into one o’ those, but it just ain’t the same this way. ”

The only rooms in the dorm with doors that locked from the outside were the rest moms. Fortunately, it had three, so Sam didn’t feel guilty, about commandeering one for the Lizard prisoners to use during the night. He and Barbara had a two-coed room for themselves. Looking at the steel-framed cots, he said, “I think I’d sooner have been quartered with some nice, friendly people back in town. ”

“It’ll be all right for one night, ” she said. “It’s easier for them to keep track of us if we’re together here instead of scattered around Fort Collins. ”

“I suppose so, ” he said, unenthusiastic still. But then, as he set his rifle down, be exclaimed, “I’m going to be a father! How about that? ”

“How about that? ” Barbara echoed.

Only one candle lit the room. Her face was hard to read. Electricity had taken the mystery out of night, turned it bright and certain as day. Now mystery was back, with a vengeance. Yeager studied the shifting shadows. “We’ll do the best we can, that’s all, ” he said, as he had when she first gave him the news.

“I know, ” she answered. “What else can we do? And, ” she added, “If anyone can take care of me and help me take care of a baby, I know it’s you, Sam. I do love you. You know that. ”

“Yeah. I love you, too, hon. ”

She sat down on one of the cots, smiled over at him. “How shall we celebrate the news? ”

“No booze around. No firecrackers… I guess we’ll just have to make our own fireworks. How does that sound? ”

“It sounds good to me. ” Barbara took off her shoes, then stood up for a moment so she could slide out of her slacks and panties. When she sat down again, she made a face and bounced back to her feet. “That wool blanket scratches. Wait a second; let me turn down the sheet. ”

Some happy time later, Sam asked, “Do you want me to put on a rubber, in case you’re wrong? ”

“Don’t bother, ” she said. “I’m regular as clockwork; even getting sick doesn’t throw me off. And I haven’t been sick. The only thing that could make me this late is a bun in the oven. And since there’s one in there, we don’t need to worry about keeping the oven door closed. ”

“Okay. ” Sam poised himself over her. She tilted her hips up to ease his way, locked her legs and arms around him. Afterwards, he rubbed at his back; she’d clawed him pretty hard. “Maybe you should get knocked up more often, ” he said.

Barbara snorted and poked him in the ribs, which almost made him fall off the narrow cot. Then she leaned over and kissed him on the tip of his nose. “I love you. You’re crazy. ”

“I’m happy, is what I am. ” He squeezed her against him, tight enough to make her squeak. She was all the woman he’d ever wanted and then some: pretty, bright, sensible, and, as he’d just delightedly found out again, a handful and a half in bed. And now she was going to have his baby. He stroked her hair. “I don’t know how I could be any happier. ”

“That’s a sweet thing to say. I’m happy with you, too. ” She took his hand, set it on her belly. “That’s ours in there. I wasn’t expecting it. I wasn’t quite ready for it, but”-she shrugged-“it’s here. I know you’ll make a good father. ”

“A father. I don’t feel like a father right now. ” He let his hand slide lower, through her little nest of hair to the softness it concealed. His fingertip traced small, slow circles.

“What do you feel like? ” she whispered. The candle burned out about then. They didn’t need it.

The next morning, Yeager woke still a little worn. Feels like I played a doubleheader yesterday. He grinned. I did.

The cot squeaked when he sat up. The noise woke Barbara. Her cot squeaked, too. He wondered how much racket they’d made the night before. At the time, he hadn’t noticed.

Barbara rubbed her eyes, yawned, stretched, looked over at him and started to laugh. “What’s so funny? ” he asked. He didn’t sound as grumpy as he would have a few months before; he’d finally got used-or resigned-to facing the day without coffee.

She said, “You have a large male leer pasted all over your face. That’s what’s funny. ”

“Oh. ” Now that he thought about it, that was funny. “Okay. ” He put his corporal’s uniform back on. The last time it had been washed was in Cheyenne. He’d got used-or resigned-to dirty clothes, too. Just about everybody’s clothes were dirty these days; it wasn’t as if Corporal Sam Yeager stood out as a special slob. He slung his rifle over his shoulder and said, “I’m going downstairs to turn Ristin and Ullhass loose. They’ll be glad to see the light of day, I expect. ”

“Probably. It seems mean to keep them locked up all night long. ” Barbara laughed again, this time at herself. “I’ve been with them so long now that I think of them as people, not as Lizards. ”

“I know what you mean. I do the same thing myself. ” Yeager considered, then said, “Come on, you get dressed, too. Then we can go over to the cafeteria with them and we’ll have breakfast. ”

Breakfast was bacon and eggs. The bacon came in great thick slices and was obviously home-cured; it took Yeager back to the smokehouse on the Nebraska farm where he’d grown up. The stuff that came in packages of cardboard and waxed paper just didn’t have the same flavor.

The Lizard POWs wouldn’t touch eggs, maybe because they were hatched themselves. But they loved bacon. Ristin ran his long, lizardy tongue around the edges of his mouth to get rid of grease. “That is so good, ” he said, adding the emphatic cough. “It reminds me of aasson back on Home. ”

“Not salty enough for aasson, ” Ullhass said. He reached for the salt shaker, poured some onto the bacon, took another bite. “Ah-better. ” Ristin held out his hand for the salt shaker. He, too, hissed with pleasure after he’d sprinkled the bacon.

Sam and Barbara exchanged glances: the bacon had salt enough, for any human palate. In the manner of an Astounding reader, Yeager tried to figure out why the Lizards wanted it with even more. They’d said Home was hotter than Earth, and its seas smaller. Maybe that meant they were saltier, too, the way Salt Lake was. When he got to Denver, he’d have to ask somebody about that.