midnight
Shortly after the evening meal of singularly unappetizing Darian rations , she drank thirstily . He did not comment . He brought out cards and showed her a complicated game of solitaire in which mental arithmetic and expert use of probability increased one 's chance of winning . By midnight , ship-time , she 'd learned the game and played it absorbedly . Calhoun was able to scrutinize her without appearing to do so , and he was satisfied again . When he mentioned that the Med Ship should arrive off Dara in eight hours more , she put the cards away and went into the other cabin . Calhoun wrote up the log .