Her exclamation rang out sharply as Baque seated himself at the multichord and the ovation faded to an expectant silence. “What the hell!”
Baque shrugged and started to play. When Marigold finally left, after a brief conference with Lankey, her escort still hadn’t got his Martian whisky.
The next evening Lankey greeted Baque with both fists full of telenotes. “What a hell of a mess this is! You see this Marigold dame’s program this morning?”
Baque shook his head. “I haven’t watched visiscope since I came to work here.”
“In case it interests you, you were—what does she call it?—a ‘Marigold Exclusive’ on visiscope this morning. Erlin Baque, the famous tunesmith, is now playing the multichord in a queer little restaurant called the Lankey-Pank Out. If you want to hear some amazing music, wander out to the New Jersey Space Port and listen to Baque. Don’t miss it. The experience of a lifetime.” Lankey swore and waved the telenotes. “Queer, she calls us. Now I’ve got ten thousand requests for reservations, some from as far away as Budapest and Shanghai. And our capacity is five hundred, counting standing room. Damn that woman! We already had all the business we could handle.”
“You need a bigger place,” Baque said.
“Yes. Well, confidentially, I’ve got my eye on a big warehouse. It’ll seat a thousand, at least. We’ll clean up. I’ll give you a contract to take charge of the music.”
Baque shook his head. “How about opening a big place uptown? Attract people that have more money to spend. You run it, and I’ll bring in the customers.”
Lankey caressed his flattened nose thoughtfully. “How do we split?”
“Fifty-fifty,” Baque said.
“No,” Lankey said, shaking his head slowly. “I play fair, Baque, but fifty-fifty wouldn’t be right on a deal like that. I’d have to put up all the money myself. I’ll give you one-third to handle the music.”
They had a lawyer draw up a contract. Baque’s lawyer. Lankey insisted on that.
IN THE BLEAK gray of early morning Baque sleepily rode the crowded conveyer toward his apartment. It was the peak rush load, when commuters jammed against each other and snarled grumpily when a neighbor shifted his feet. The crowd seemed even heavier than usual, but Baque shrugged off the jostling and elbowing and lost himself in thought.
It was time that he found a better place to live. He hadn’t minded the dumpy apartment as long as he could afford nothing better, but Val had been complaining for years. And now when they could move, when they could have a luxury apartment or even a small home over in Pennsylvania, Val refused to go. Didn’t want to leave her friends, she said.
Mulling over this problem in feminine contrariness, Baque realized suddenly that he was approaching his own stop. He attempted to move toward a deceleration strip—he shoved firmly, he tried to step between his fellow riders, he applied his elbows, first gently and then viciously. The crowd about him did not yield.
“I beg your pardon,” Baque said, making another attempt. “I get off here.”
This time a pair of brawny arms barred his way. “Not this morning, Baque. You got an appointment uptown.”
Baque flung a glance at the circle of hard, grinning faces that surrounded him. With a sudden effort he hurled himself sideways, fighting with all of his strength. The arms hauled him back roughly.
“Uptown, Baque. If you want to go dead, that’s your affair.”
“Uptown,” Baque agreed.
At a public parking strip they left the conveyer. A flyer was waiting for them, a plush, private job that displayed a high-priority X registration number. They flew swiftly toward Manhattan, cutting across air lanes with a monumental contempt for regulations, and they veered in for a landing on the towering Visiscope International building. Baque was bundled down an anti-grav shaft, led through a labyrinth of corridors, and finally prodded none too gently into an office.
It was a huge room, and its sparse furnishings made it look more enormous than it was. It contained only a desk, a few chairs, a bar in the far corner, an enormous visiscope screen—and a multichord. The desk was occupied, but it was the group of men about the bar that caught Baque’s attention. His gaze swept the blur of faces and found one that he recognized: Hulsey.
The plump agent took two steps forward and stood glaring at Baque. “Day of reckoning, Erlin,” he said coldly.
A hand rapped sharply on the desk. “I take care of any reckoning that’s done around here, Hulsey. Please sit down, Mr. Baque.”
A chair was thrust forward, and Baque seated himself and waited nervously, his eyes on the man behind the desk.
“My name is James Denton. Does my fame extend to such a remote place as the Lankey-Pank Out?”
“No,” Baque said. “But I’ve heard of you.”
James Denton. Czar of Visiscope International. Ruthless arbiter of public taste. He was no more than forty, with a swarthy, handsome face, flashing eyes, and a ready smile.
He tapped a cigar on the edge of his desk and carefully placed it in his mouth. Men sprang forward with lighters extended, and he chose one without looking up, puffed deeply, and nodded.
“I won’t bore you with introductions to this gathering, Baque. Some of these men are here for professional reasons. Some are here because they’re curious. I heard about you for the first time yesterday, and what I heard made me want to find out whether you’re a potential asset that might be made use of, or a potential nuisance that should be eliminated, or a nonentity that can be ignored. When I want to know something, Baque, I waste no time about it.” He chuckled. “As you can see from the fact that I had you brought in at the earliest moment you were—shall we say—available.”
“The man’s dangerous, Denton!” Hulsey blurted.
Denton flashed his smile. “I like dangerous men, Hulsey. They’re useful to have around. If I can use whatever it is Mr. Baque has, I’ll make him an attractive offer. I’m sure he’ll accept it gratefully. If I can’t use it, I aim to make damned certain that he won’t be inconveniencing me. Do I make myself clear, Baque?”
Baque, looking past Denton to avoid his eyes, said nothing.
Denton leaned forward. His smile did not waver, but his eyes narrowed and his voice was suddenly icy. “Do I make myself clear, Baque?”
“Yes,” Baque muttered weakly.
Denton jerked a thumb toward the door, and half of those present, including Hulsey, solemnly filed out. The others waited, talking in whispers, while Denton puffed steadily on his cigar. Finally an intercom rasped a single word. “Ready!”
Denton pointed at the multichord. “We crave a demonstration of your skill, Mr. Baque. And take care that it’s a good demonstration. Hulsey is listening, and he can tell us if you try to stall.”
Baque nodded and took his place at the multichord. He sat with fingers poised, timidly looking up at a circle of staring faces. Overlords of business, they were, and of science and industry, and never in their lives had they heard real music. As for Hulsey—yes, Hulsey would be listening, but over Denton’s intercom, over a communication system designed to carry voices.
And Hulsey had a terrible ear for music.
Baque grinned contemptuously, touched the violin filter, touched it again, and faltered.
Denton chuckled dryly. “I neglected to inform you, Mr. Baque. On Hulsey’s advice, we’ve had the filters disconnected.”
Anger surged within Baque. He jammed his foot down hard on the volume control, insolently tapped out a visiscope fanfare, and started to play his Tamper Cheese Com. Denton, his own anger evident in his flushed face, leaned forward and snarled something. The men around him stirred uneasily. Baque shifted to another Com, improvised some variations, and began to watch the circle of faces. Overlords of industry, science and business. It would be amusing, he thought, to make them stomp their feet. His fingers shaped a compelling rhythm, and they began to sway restlessly.