But, with all these categories accounted for, I found some men not accounted for. First class? Yes, they eat in the Ambrosia Room. Business travelers? MaybeÄbut according to the first assistant purser, business travelers go second class, not as swank but just as comfortable, at half the cost.
Item: When Jerry Madsen takes me to The Black Hole with his friends, here is this solitary bloke nursing a drink over in the corner. Next morning Jimmy Lopez takes me swimming; this same bloke is in the pool. In the card room I'm playing one-thumb with Tommy shadow is playing solitaire over on the far side.
Once or twice can be coincidence... but at the end of three days I am certain that, anytime I am outside of suite BB, some one of four men is somewhere in sight. He usually stays as far from me
as the geometry of the space permitsÄbut he's there.
Mr. Sikmaa did impress on me that I was to carry "the most valuable package any courier ever carried." But I did not expect him to find it necessary to place guards around inside this ship. Did he think that someone could sneak up and steal it out of my bellybutton?
Or are the shadows not from Mr. Sikmaa? Was the secret broached before I left Earth? Mr. Sikmaa seemed professionally careful... but how about Mosby and his jealous secretary? I just don't knowÄand I don't know enough about politics in The Realm to make any guesses.
Later: Both of the young women are part of the watchful eye over me but they close in only when and where the men cannotÄthe beauty parlor, the dress shop, the women's sauna, etc. They never bother me but I'm tired of it already. I'll be glad to deliver the package so that I can fully enjoy this wonderful trip. Luckily the best part is after we leave The Realm. Outpost is such a frost (literally!) that no groundside excursions are planned there. Botany Bay is said to be very pleasant and I must see it because it is a place to which I may migrate later.
The Realm is described as rich and beautiful and I do want to see it as a touristÄbut I won't be moving there. While it is reputed to be quite well governed, it is as absolute a dictatorship as is the Chicago ImpermumÄI ye had enough of that But for a stronger reason I would not consider asking for an immigrant's visa: I know too much. Officially I don't know any'thing as Mr. Sikmaa never admitted it and I didn't askÄbut I won't stretch my luck by asking to live there.
Midway is another place I want to see but don't want to live. Two suns in its sky are enough to make it special... but it is the Popein-Exile that makes it very specialÄto visit, not to stay. It really is true that they celebrate Mass there in public! Captain van Kooten says so and Jerry tells me that he has seen it with his own eyes and that I can see it, tooÄno charge, but a contribution for charity on the part of a gentile is good manners.
I'm tempted to do it. It's not really dangerous and I'll probably never have a chance like this again in my whole life.
Of course I'll check out Halcyon and Fiddler's Green. Each must be extra-special or they would not command such high prices .
but I'll be looking for the joker in the deck every mimiuteÄsuch as that at Eden. I would hate to ask Gloria to pay a high fee to get me in... then discover that I hated the place.
Forest is supposed to be nothing much for a touristÄno amenitiesÄbut I want to give it a very careful look. It is the newest colony, of course, still in the log-cabin stage and totally dependent on Earth and/or The Realm for tools and instruments.
But isn't that just the time to join a colony in order to feel great gusty joy in every minute?
Jerry just looks sour. He tells me to go look at it... and learn for myself that life in the forest primeval is greatly overrated.
I don't know. Maybe I could make a deal for stopover privilege:
pick up this ship or one of her sisters some months from now. Must ask the Captain.
Yesterday there was a holo at the Stardust Theater that I wanted to see, a musical comedy, The Connecticut Yankee and Queen Guinevere. It was supposed to be quite funny, with romantic-revival music, and loaded with beautiful horses and beautiful pageantry. I avoided my swains and went alone. Or almost alone; I could not avoid my guards.
This manÄ"number three" in my mind, although the passenger list said that he was "Howard J. Bullfinch, San Diego"Äfollowed me in and settled down right behind me... unusual, since they normally stayed as far away from me as the size of a room permitted. Perhaps he thought he might lose track of me after they lowered the lights; I don't know. His presence behind me distracted me. When the Queen sank her fangs into the Yankee and dragged him into her boudoir, instead of thinking about the fun going on in the holotank, I was trying to sort out and analyze all the odors that reached meÄ not easy in a crowded theater.
When the play was over and the lights came up, I reached the side aisle just as my shadow did; he gave way. I smiled and thanked him, then made exit by the forward door; he followed. That exit leads to a short staircase, four steps. I stumbled, fell backward, and he caught me.
"Thank you!" I said. "For that I am taking you to the Centaur Bar to buy you a drink."
"Oh, not at all!"
"Oh, most emphatically. You are going to explain to me why you have been following me and who hired you and several other things."
He hesitated. "You have made some mistake."
"Not me, Mac. Would you rather come quietly... or would you rather explain it to the Captain?"
He gave a little quizzical smile. (Or was it cynical?) "Your words are most persuasive even though you are mistaken. But I insist on paying for the drinks."
"All right. You owe me that. And then some."
I picked a table in the corner where we could not be overheard by other customers... thereby ensuring that we could be overheard by an Ear. But, aboard ship, how can one avoid an Ear? You can't.
We were served, then I said to him almost silently, "Can you read lips?"
"Not very well," he admitted at the same low level.
"Very well, let's keep it as low as possible and hope that random noise will confuse the Ear. Mac, tell me one thing: Have you raped any other helpless females lately?"
He flinched. I don't think anyone can be hit that hard and not flinch. But he paid me the courtesy of respecting my brain and showed that he was a brain, too, by answering, "Miss Friday, how did you recognize me?"
"Odor," I answered. "Odor at first; you sat too close to me. Then, as we left the theater, I forced on you a voice check. And I stumbled on the stairs and forced you to put your arms around me. That did it. Is there an Ear on us here?"
"Probably. But it may not be recording and it is possible that no one is monitoring it now."
"Too much." I worried it. Walk side by side on the promenade? An Ear would have trouble with that setup without continuous tracking, but tracking could be automatic if Mac had a beacon on him. Or I myself might be booby-trapped. Aquarius Pool? Acoustics in a swimming pool are always bad, which was good. But, damn it, I needed more privacy. "Leave your drink and come with me."
I took him to cabin BB. Shizuko let us in. So far as I could tell she stood a twenty-four-hour watch except that she slept when I did. Or I thought she did. I asked her, "What do we have later, Shizuko?"
"Purser's party, Missy. Nineteen o'clock."
"I see. Go take a walk or something. Come back in one hour."
"Too late. Thirty minutes."
"One hour!"
She answered humbly, "Yes, Missy"Äbut not before I caught her glance at him and his scant five-millimeter nod.
With Shizuko gone and the door bolted I said quietly, "Are you her boss or is she yours?"