He waited a few minutes, to be sure they’d gotten well away, then went over and flicked on the lights. He picked up his glasses and anchored them firmly to his nose, then turned to inspect the damage.
The intruders hadn’t been neat. The contents of his bags were strewn all over the floor.
So far as he could find, nothing was gone. For that matter, there was nothing that he could think of that might interest them. The Section G boys at headquarters had carefully selected the things that he and Ronny were to take to Einstein with them. No weapons, no secret gismos from the Department of Dirty Tricks. Nothing to make their hosts at all suspicious.
He was puzzled. It simply made no sense at all. If the locals had wanted to search his luggage, why hadn’t they done it at the spaceport when he and Ronny had first emerged from the Sheppard! They hadn’t even seen a customs man, an immigration officer, or any other authority. Of course, in a sense, Ronny Bronston and he came under the head of a mission, and diplomatic immunity could be said to apply to them, and hence their luggage wouldn’t have been inspected. But it was drawing rather a fine point to leave their things politely unexamined upon entry to the planet, and then sneak, at night, into a man’s bedroom and search it. Still, he couldn’t believe the two to be sneak thieves. From what Rosemary had said, there was no need on Einstein to be a thief. Certainly not a common pilferer.
He shrugged his heavy shoulders. It was a mystery.
Then his eyes fell upon something he had thus far missed. Up against the wall was one of the flashlight-like devices the others had carried. It had obviously been dropped in the confusion. He went over and picked it up, and, almost immediately, realized what it was. It was an infra-red flashlight. Those goggles they had worn were not masks, but were to enable them to utilize the light, which was useless to the naked eye.
They had come well prepared for their burglary.
He wondered, momentarily, whether or not he should go next door to Ronny’s room and inform him of what had happened but then shook his head. It could wait until morning. For one thing, he wasn’t sure he wanted to tell about it in front of Rosemary. For another, he wasn’t even sure Ronny was in his own suite; he might be in the girl’s rooms. But even if he was in his own bed, he was probably busy at his masculine duties. And by the looks of Rosemary, those duties would continue far into the night.
He looked at the door for a moment and wondered if there wasn’t some way to brace it. His eyes went about the small suite. The furniture didn’t seem to be particularly suited. However, he took up one of the twin beds bodily and carried over to the door and braced it against the entry. At least, anyone trying to get back in would make enough noise to supply adequate warning. For all he knew, the two intruders might have second thoughts and decide to return, possibly with weapons this time, and finish him off. Dorn Horsten looked forward to dying in bed, some far day, but not from having been shot there.
Chapter Nine
Switching from the hours kept on the Sheppard to those of Einstein had thrown Ronny’s sleeping schedule off, and he found himself awake at an earlier hour than he had expected. He looked over at Rosemary, whose blond head was on the pillow next to him. She was out like a light, and was even making a very small snore. Even after the wild night they had put in, and in the harsh light of morning, she still looked like the most beautiful woman he had ever bedded.
Moving very carefully, so as not to awaken her, he got up and carried one of his bags into the small sitting room, along with the clothes he had worn the day before. Possibly here on Einstein they disposed of clothing after one day’s wear, but, even had he wanted to emulate them, he didn’t know how to go about ordering new ones. Besides, he and Dorn hadn’t met the committee Rosemary had mentioned and he decided to continue his ultra-conservative attire until they had. Ronny didn’t particularly like it but he didn’t particularly look the diplomatic type—though Dorn pulled it off very well—and conservative clothes would help.
They had both slept nude. He went into the bath and had little trouble figuring out the fixtures. He had figured out bathroom fixtures of many a culture in his time, including an outhouse on the anarchist planet Bakunin. This on Einstein was quite similar to those on Earth and the other advanced planets. He even found depilatory and used it on his beard.
His toilet over, he returned to the sitting room and, still as quietly as possible, to refrain from interrupting the slumber of his bedmate, dressed in fresh underthings, fresh socks and shirt, but otherwise in the same suit he had worn the day before.
He quietly let himself out onto the patio and from there went into the living room. He found Dorn Horsten in the dining room, having coffee and toast. Evidently, his sleep, too, had been upset by the change in schedule.
He smiled self-satisfaction and said, “I figured out how to order coffee on this table. I’ve never seen an automated table before that didn’t at least have an order screen. In fact, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen an automated table in a home out in the boondocks like this. However, I suppose that if you can pipe electricity, water and gas into a home from a distant point there’s no particular reason why you couldn’t send food from some automated kitchen. They probably have a vacuum tube arrangement.”
“Coffee?” Ronny said, taking a seat across from the other. “I thought that coffee wasn’t drunk on Einstein.”
“That captain didn’t know what he was talking about. He also said that they didn’t drink alcohol. Whatever we find here on Einstein, it won’t be an austere way of life. I’ll wager he never got out of his space freighter here.
“Wizard. Order me a cup of coffee, some croissants and some orange marmalade.”
Dorn Horsten projected his voice over the table and repeated the order.
While Ronny was waiting for it, his companion told him about the happenings of the night before.
Ronny stared at him. “What in the name of the Holy Ultimate were they looking for?”
“I can’t come up with anything.”
The light breakfast arrived and Ronny set to, scowling.
He said, finally, “From what little we’ve seen and heard so far it doesn’t seem to be a planet where you’d run into burglars. They dont even bother to put locks on the doors.”
Dorn could only nod and poured more coffee for himself. “You’d think this was Earth-side coffee,” he said, “or even better.”
Ronny said, “And this marmalade obviously was made from real oranges. It’s seldom you get good citrus fruit off Earth.”
When he had finished his croissants, they took up fresh cups of coffee and went out into the living room.
After they were seated, Dorn said, “Did you find out anything special, after we separated last night?”
“Yeah,” Ronny said. “They have sex tutors for the kids here. Give them a course in how to perform in bed, after they become adolescent.”
Horsten snorted. “That’d make for a howl on Virtue. They still wear Mother Hubbards there.”
“It’d make for a howl on some of the other backward worlds,” Ronny said. “But not enough to keep Einstein out of United Planets. I still wonder why in the hell they want to bother to join. They’ve got it made. What can we do for them?”
A voice from the door said, “Am I intruding?”
The newcomer was accompanied by a male dog who had short and dark golden hair, and even golden eyes, and a bobbed tail, and who would possibly weigh seventy-five pounds. It was a beautiful hound. The man himself seemed to be approximately fifty years of age, was handsome and distinguished of face, looked very intelligent and wore kilts very similar to the ones Rosemary had on the day before. Somehow, on him they looked quite masculine, while on Rosemary they had not detracted from her femininity.