“Thanks. So am I.” Norton looked at Kiru again. “How about you?”
“I’m not sure yet,” said Kiru. She sipped at her wine to stop herself smiling, then glanced at Diana. “Tell him why we’re here.”
“Remember back on Earth,” said Diana, “when we talked about Lost Vegas?”
“Kind of,” said Norton.
“You said Vegas could have been improved if it was by the sea, but gambling couldn’t happen outside because the sun would go down and people would be aware of time going by.”
Norton nodded. Las Vegas was a twenty-four-hour city. Day or night made no difference.
“The sun never goes down here,” said Kiru.
Norton glanced up. Although Caphmiaultrelvossmuaf’s star was forever hidden behind the swirling orange clouds, it was always very warm. If the sun ever broke through, the temperature would make Nevada seem like the Arctic.
“The sea,” said Norton, beginning to remember. “The sun.” He looked up into the red sky. “It shouldn’t be raining.”
“It’s not,” said Diana, “not on this island. We’re starting here. In time, we’ll expand to other islands. We’ll fix the rain as we go.”
“You chose this planet,” said Norton, slowly, as he began to realise the magnitude of the idea, “because of what I said?”
“We had a number of options,” said Diana, “but your expertise helped with our final decision.”
“Sea, sun, sand, bikini girls,” said Norton, remembering it all. “Is that why you’ve got aliens in bikinis?” He shook his head in amazement, then finished his wine in a single gulp. “I’ll be damned.”
Las Vegas in space. Planet Vegas.
“Ready to eat?” asked Diana, as she signalled the Caphafer in the blue bikini.
“Yes,” said Kiru, and Norton nodded.
It was the first food he had eaten since being in the escape capsule, and he didn’t even care that it was fish. His head was spinning. Because of an apparently casual conversation, a whole world was being transformed into a casino planet. The concept was mind-blowing. Or maybe it was just the salty wine, which was scrambling his brain.
While they ate, Diana pointed out all the new landmarks—enviroscapes, dreamzones, skytels—and talked about the future of Cafe World.
“Cafe World?” said Kiru. “Are you going to pay Wayne a consultancy fee?”
“That’s just a provisional name,” said Diana. “I’ll have to discuss it with my fellow partners.”
“The galactic thieving bastards?” said Kiru. “Although you probably call them ‘entrepreneurs.’ ”
“You were right the first time,” said Diana. “I’m talking about the new partners. Hideaway’s top people are arriving here in less than fifty hours, when the partnership details will be finalised.”
As Kiru and Norton both stared at her, Diana shrugged.
“They tried to kill us,” said Kiru. “Wayne, me, even you.”
Diana shrugged again. “After what we did, who can blame them?”
“What we did?” said Norton. “What you did!”
“It’s sound business sense,” said Diana. “By operating together, Hideaway and Cafe World will be far more profitable. Instead of competing, we’ll complement each other. Hideaway can concentrate on serving the elite of the galaxy, and with their professional expertise we can soon develop a planet-sized version to provide entertainment and vacations for the mass-market.”
“But you thought Hideaway was going to annihilate Caphmiaultrelvossmuaf,” said Kiru.
“That was just a negotiating tactic. They would never have destroyed a valuable asset like this.” Diana toyed with the stem of her wine glass. “Because if they had, Hideaway would have been vaporized as a reprisal.”
“That’s good,” said Kiru. “At least the whole Caphafer race wouldn’t have died in vain.”
“Mutually destructive business plans are very shortsighted,” said Diana.
“So now you’re working for the tax men,” said Norton. “Or tax aliens.”
“Don’t we all?” said Diana. “They started on one world, but they thought big, which is how they became the largest organisation in the galaxy. The Galactic Tax Authority owns whole planets, entire solar systems, and every person who lives there is in debt to them—although they don’t even know it.”
“And they’re coming here for the big pow-wow,” said Norton.
“What?” said Diana, and Kiru said, “What?”
“You’re going to smoke the pipe of peace.”
“What?” said Kiru, and Diana said, “What?”
“Another reason for choosing this planet,” said Norton, gazing up at the sky, “was the colour, yeah? It’s the ideal world for Red Indians.”
“I see what you mean,” said Diana, and Kiru said, “I don’t.”
“We’re talking about Red Indians,” said Norton.
“What’s a Red Indian?” asked Kiru.
“You are,” he said.
Kiru ran her fingers through her red hair. “Am I?”
“We all are,” said Norton. “Or so I’ve been told.”
Kiru shrugged, sipped at her wine, then resumed eating. She shifted in her seat and glanced around, making it evident she found her surroundings far more interesting than her companions.
“Will your partners become blood brothers?” Norton continued. “Or sisters?”
“There’ll be no mixing of bodily fluids,” said Diana. “This is strictly a business arrangement, although there’ll be an appropriate celebration after the contracts have been signed and witnessed. After that, if anyone wants to become involved in a personal liaison, it’s up to them.”
“A personal liaison?” said Norton, looking at Kiru.
A skimmer slid off the ocean and went by thirty yards away, and Kiru waved. The three on deck waved back. It was hard to tell if they were all human, but they definitely weren’t Caphafers. Instead of bikinis, they were wearing dark suits—as designed by Wayne Norton.
The skimmer disappeared as silently as it had arrived, and Norton realised the restaurant must have been within a sonic screen. That was why the building work seemed so quiet, because sound beyond the plaza was reflected back out.
“Who were they?” asked Norton. “Fellow convicts?”
“No idea,” said Kiru.
“Some of my colleagues,” said Diana. “Gino, Rico and Pedro.”
“Pedro?” said Norton.
“You know her?”
Norton shook his head.
“When Hideaway was under different management, she was called Jack. Gino was Deuce and Rico was Ace.” Diana paused. “They’re a trio.”
“Is that where the music was coming from?” said Norton.
“Music? They’re not musicians.”
“I heard music earlier. You said they were a trio.”
“They are,” said Diana. “A sexual trio.”
“Oh.” Norton nodded, as if understanding. “Three of them? Is that… er…?”
“Two men, one woman,” said Diana. “That’s the best arithmetic. Or geometry.”
“You mean… they have sex? All three of them? With each other? At the same time?”
“I presume so. Why else get married? Go and ask them.”
“They’re married? All of them? To each other?” Norton drank some more wine. “One attraction of Vegas I never mentioned,” he added, “was that people went there to get married.”
“Because it wasn’t legal anywhere else?” said Diana.
“No. Because they could get married immediately. There was no license restriction in Las Vegas.”
“People had to have a license to get married?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re talking about a formal conjugal agreement?”
“Probably.” Norton glanced at Kiru, who was still looking away. “I thought that… er, maybe, you know… you could hold wedding ceremonies here.”