A hunger pang like a twisting knife woke me up. The smell of food had set it off. My companions were warily eying a waist-high cart with a dozen hot dishes on it. Eating what is given you by a hostile stranger is probably not a good idea but my hunger was beyond reasoning with. Once I had devoured a few bits and not melted into a puddle the others lit into it just as ravenously. What it was I could not say but there were things like meat and things like fowl and things like noodles and leafy veg. Purple carrots dominated one offering. “Friends,” said Zarkhov while chewing. “We know few things. We do not know if it is safe to eat but we do know we are hungry. We know that each word we speak in here is heard and probably recorded. We should assume that this is always the case from now on.” We looked at each other guiltily. Mr. Lantz had taught us a valuable lesson at terrible cost. “We know these….people can kill us at any time but they feel they need us or that we are useful at any rate. I propose that the instant we prove ourselves less than useful we shall follow the late gentleman and quickly.” All nodded at this. “And the most useful of all of us, is you Mr. Gordon.”

“Flash, please. Or Jeff.”

“Hmmm. It is you they want. It was for you that the plane was taken. It is you that will get an audience with Ming. We may but you will. You were in the air at the right moment and have become…. Well, I would call you The Indispensable Man if that weren’t such bad luck. Think of the apparent randomness of this. You made a leap and lived. And in all the millions in those towns who were going about their lives that day you were the only one whose feet were off the earth at the proper time. I am a physicist. I believe in randomness but I do not believe in coincidence. You are a man of fate, Flash. And your fate, how you handle that fate will decide the fate of the rest of us.”

“Whoa, hold on now.” That was Dale, naturally. “For a man of science you are awfully superstitious doctor.”

“Faith is not superstition. God does not play dice with the universe, dear.”

“Are you really going to tell me that because Jeff here was doing his touchdown dance when the bombs hit that makes him the hinge of fate for all of humanity?”

More quietly Zarkhov said, “I do not tell you that. Your eyes and ears tell you that. I am simply helping them to convince you.”

I was eating through all this. So were they though it didn’t keep them from talking.

Judy spoke up again, “All of us on that plane got on the wrong side of luck. Everyone on the planet is on the wrong side of this…. “ she lifted and dropped her arms to indicate everything around us. “Situation. And they don’t even know it. Of all the people in the world we are the only ones who actually know what is going on.”

“If we do,” said Zarkhov. “No one should take anything we are told at face value. This Praga, no disrespect,” he said nodding to the ceiling, “seems no different than many such men we have all known. He seems to be telling the truth as far as it goes but make no mistake, they will lie to us just as easily. They will do and say whatever they may to get what it is they want.”

“Very good, doctor,” said Praga’s voice from the walls. Everyone got quiet again.

“Food is not all they brought,” said Dale pointing toward the door. There were two bale-size chests made of wood with silvery hinges. They were full of clothing. “Praga said the left one is for the men, the other for us ladies.” There was even a small box with some golden chains and gems.

“I like my clothes just fine for now,” said Mike, the marshal.

“Mmmm,” agreed Judy still in her uniform. “But it seems like they do a lot more telling than asking around here.”

“Indeed”, Praga chimed in. “The rest of you may remain in those ridiculous rags if you like. But for Flash there is something special and once you are done with your meal, sir, you will put on the top garment. You will arrive on Mongo in the livery of Old Earth. Do you like that? I came up with that myself. As you see it is olive, brown and blue, just like your planet. I mean our planet, of course.”

Underwear was not included.