"Because he is real," Tomm told him. "Unlike many other things around here."
Zarex still did not move a muscle, except the ones in his left eyelid and lips. "Maybe you're a ghost…" he mused. "One that will go away as soon as I take my next sip of wine… "
"Drink then to the honor of the Great Klaaz," Tomm told him right back. "He's the one who sent us to see you."
Both of Zarex's eyes managed to open now.
"My friend Klaaz sent a priest for me?" he asked with a gasp. "I'd say that is a scarier prospect than being visited by a ghost."
Tomm looked about the balcony; so did Hunter. To his eyes, it was a cluster of naked and near-naked breasts, some slightly moist, some gleaming in the sun. Still, the beauties seemed oblivious to everything except Zarex.
"You might find yourself dead or somewhere worse, should you ever have a power outage up here," Tomm told him in a very priestly tone.
This comment finally brought a change in Zarex. He raised himself from the couch and got to his feet. He was an even more massive individual than Hunter had first thought.
"Forgive me, Father," Zarex said with a slight bow. "I've been here so long, I've obviously forgotten my manners."
Tomm made a very quick crossing motion with his right hand, ending it with a hard slap upside Zarex's head. The man winced.
"Klaaz suspected you might be losing the battle to temptation," Pater Tomm said. "He was right, as always."
"I prefer to think of it as fighting the good fight, Padre," Zarex replied, rubbing his afflicted cheek.
Tomm just sniffed. "It's self-abuse," he said, not entirely priestly now. 'To the highest degree…"
Hunter was barely paying attention to this odd conversation; his eyes were still saturated with all the gleaming, tanned, jiggling breasts. Tomm looked back at him, saw the state he was in, and threatened to slap his head, too.
He turned back to Zarex and said, "I pray you to reveal your little secret… before my friend here explodes."
Zarex frowned and reluctantly snapped his fingers.
Suddenly, all the girls disappeared.
Hunter was stunned — for about two seconds.
Then it hit him.
"Holo-girls?" he mumbled.
Zarex nodded sadly. "The best…"
Of course, Hunter thought. Now it all makes sense.
He had met only one holo-girl in the flesh, so to speak. Or at least he didn't think he'd encountered any more; there was no way to really tell. That was the problem. Holo-girls were holographic projections of the most superior kind. They looked, felt, and acted as if they were human. And they were always perfect—always. Or at least the more expensive models were. They came packaged inside a small container not unlike a Twenty 'n Six box, just slightly more egg-shaped. Push the button, your holo-girl was there. Face, shape, hair, voice. Perfect… and ready to do anything.
Don't like blue eyes? Push the button, they turn to brown. Don't like blondes, another push, she's a redhead or a brunette or a raven-haired beauty. Another push, her breasts begin to grow. And grow. And grow. When it seems her top is about to burst, push again, and her breasts begin to shrink, almost until they become nonexistent. Push again, a tight top becomes a simple white blouse. Push. Skintight pants became a skintight skirt. Push. The boots disappear, revealing a beautiful set of bare legs and feet.
Push… Push… Push…
But that was not all. The top-of-the-line holo-girls had the ability to take their suitors into the thirty-fourth dimension, a place programmed to provide endless scenarios usually involving paradise settings — all projected, of course. The top holo-girls had large memory banks, meaning the suitor could go into the Big Three-Four for days, weeks, even months, however long one could stand it. Then, with another push of the button, he would return to his starting point before his friends had taken another sip of their drinks. No time had passed at all. Invariably, the traveler would ask, "What I miss?"
But now, as the last of Zarex's holo-girls began blinking out all over the resort, a sense of gloom descended upon the penthouse. Suddenly, things weren't as bright, the colors not as vivid. The diamonds and crystal had lost their gleam.
It was apparent what was really going on.
The girls in the tower. The girls in the lobby. The girls lounging around the pool. They were all fakes. Zarex was alone here.
A long moment passed as the tidal wave of despair washed through the room. Now it really did seem like they were on a barren planet in a no-good star system with a guy who was simply hiding out. Hunter took a deep breath. It did no good. The gloom remained.
Zarex sighed and collected the few dozen holo-eggs and stored them away in a small carrying case, his only discernible luggage.
Then he turned to his visitors.
"Well, you've succeeded in banishing my one and only real vice," he said dryly. "Can I at least offer you a drink before you go?"
Without waiting for an answer, he led them over to an enormous bar, which was floating above what looked like a miniature self-contained sea, complete with rows of tiny waves and whitecaps. There were more than a hundred varieties of slow-ship wine on display above this really wet bar. Zarex reached across the tiny sea and selected a bright red bottle from the hovering rack. He poured out three healthy shots.
They held their glasses aloft.
"For fallen friends," all three intoned.
They downed their drinks in one noisy, simultaneous shot. Hunter let the sweetly pungent liquid flow down his throat. Instantly, he felt his feet lift a bit off the ground again.
Good stuff.
Zarex poured out three more shots. He seemed to relax a little.
"So you are friends of the Great Klaaz?" he asked with a booming voice. "Few names could break my spell."
"A friend of his is hopefully a friend of ours," Pater Tomm said with a polite bow.
They toasted again, this time silently. If possible, the second shot of slow-ship tasted better than the first. Hunter studied their host for a moment. For someone so huge and wild-looking, Zarex did have a dashing air about him. There was more than a hint of intelligence in his face, a bit of larceny in his steely eyes. The bubbles claimed Zarex had single-handedly charted thousands of isolated star systems and probably hundreds of thousands of planets as well. Though he didn't look the part, when he wasn't doing his weapons-selling gig, Zarex was one hell of an explorer.
He also knew his star juice.
"So, Father," he said, pouring out three more shots. "Are you also here to tell me the Great Klaaz is well?"
"Klaaz is well, and therefore so are our lives," Tomm replied properly. Then the priest nodded toward Hunter. "But actually, my friend and I have been shooting the Five-Arm for many weeks now, looking for a certain passage… "
Zarex's eyebrows rose with amusement. "And you took a wrong turn at the last nebula?" he asked.
Tomm shook his head. "No, we simply need directions. To a place, that… How shall I say it? Is off the beaten track."
Zarex laughed. "My specialty, once…"
The priest lowered his voice. "We want to find the Home Planets."
Zarex's smile disappeared.
"The Home Planets?" he asked with mock ignorance. "Well, then you've been on a fool's mission, Padre. They don't exist."
Tomm sampled his third drink. "I should remind you that it is very bad luck to lie to a priest."
Zarex took this admonition to heart somewhat, but he did not change his tack.
"The Home Planets are things of myth and legend, Father," he said. "Stories to be told to children at bedtime."