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Story Three

NOBODY’S POKER

Prologue

HE DIDN’T OFTEN DREAM

And right noasn’t even asleep But even so, it was almost a dream, almost like one of those sweet visions in the instant before waking

A light, pure vision, alines broaching key to start position

The silvery coluhtunder the nozzles

Every Russian child drea a cosmonaut¡ªuntil he hears that question for the tenth time: "What do you want to be, a cos about outer space when they beco than other planets The newly discovered Power has a stronger gravitational pull than the fa of a rocket¡ªan absurd, old-fashioned rocket rising up into the sky

The earth floating beneath his feet or above his head

The thick quartz glass of the porthole

Strange dreams for an Other, surely?

The earth a veil of clouds the lights of the cities people

Millions of the them from orbit

An Other in space what could be more ludicrous? Except maybe for Other versus Alien He had watched a science fiction fil that noas just the right ht¡ª and then strike out and smash those unwieldy, helpless ht had ih

There weren’t any Others up there

But space was up there Only he hadn’t realized what it was for until now

Now he understood