The Brazilians, Martinelli had informed him yesterday when Regan was in Canberra, were proceeding on schedule with the satellite. Construction contracts for the space line that would take passengers to the Fair Satellite had been let, subject only to Regan’s final approval. The line would be built by a domestic firm, a subsidiary of Interworld Factoring. Regan hated to give the job to the competition, but there was no avoiding it. The wealth had to be shared.
A waterfall trickled gently through the garden room, endlessly recycling itself. It reminded Regan of the waterfall in the Sung scroll Ch’ien had given him. What had that old Sung painter of the eleventh century known of flowers in February? Of recycling devices? Of indoor waterfalls?
Nola strolled after him. She wore a black tunic, with ruffled webwork depending from the arms. Why did she always wear black, Regan wondered? Wishful thinking?
‘How did you spend your time?“ he asked her.
‘Idly.“
‘All of it?“
She shrugged. “I toured Antarctica with your uncle. He went to visit the Global base there, and he thought I might like to come along.”
‘Since when are you and Bruce such good friends?“
‘He knew I was alone here. It was very kind of him to invite me.“
Regan nodded. “Did you enjoy Antarctica?”
‘Very much,“ Nola said. ”It’s very clean there. The fields of snow-so pure. Virginal.“
‘Yes,“ he said. ”I’ve always found it a dull place to visit.“
‘I imagine you would,“ Nola said.
‘Did you spend your whole time down there?“
‘No,“ she said. ”I was on the Moon for two weeks.“
‘Were you? Alone?“
‘With Rex Bennett,“ Nola said. ”He joined your uncle and me in Antarctica, and suggested the Moon visit next. So we went, Rex and I. He’s an amusing old gentleman. Courtly and correct, very conservative. We had an enjoyable time together.“
‘You’ve been seeing a lot of the Old Guard, then.“
‘Yes. Is it wrong, Claude?“
‘Not at all. Not at all. Better that you travel around with doddering old squires than with handsome young men, if you’re going to travel at all.“
‘They seem very worried about you, Claude.“
‘Worried about me or about Global Factors?“
‘Both,“ Nola said. ”They think that you’re a sick man, and that you’re bringing the company down to destruction.“
‘Do you think I’m sick, Nola?“
‘You don’t look well.“
‘That isn’t how they’re using ’sick.‘ What they mean to say is that I’m insane. Do you think I’m insane, Nola? Come on. Tell me!“
She smiled obliquely. Reaching up casually, she plucked the ruby from her forehead and began to fondle the stone, an absent-minded gesture that Regan, in his tense and fatigued state, found unbearably grisly. He stared at the vacant socket above her eyes, then turned away.
Nola said, “What does insane mean, Claude?”
‘Skip the semantics. I can just see you and Bruce and Bennett, sitting down there in Little America, telling each other that I ought to be committed. You do think I’m nutty, don’t you?“
‘Do you feel persecuted, Claude? Do you feel surrounded by enemies?“
‘I feel tired. I feel like I’m coming apart at the seams. But I feel sane, Nola.“
‘Then you must be sane,“ she said. ”Q.E.D.“
He glanced up at her. “Put the stone back in your head, will you?”
‘I thought you didn’t like that fashion.“
‘I like looking at a ruby up there better than I do looking at the empty socket. Put it back!“
‘If you wish.“
She reinserted the ruby without turning around. Regan forced himself to watch. He realized he was trembling. A constricting band of tension gripped his belly. He walked toward her, his footsteps echoing on the tile. The waterfall gently burbled in the background. Flower-scents dazzled his nostrils. Nola stood still, black-garbed against a background of blazing azaleas.
He paused when he was a few steps away from her. Struggling to keep his voice level, Regan said. “Nola, I wish you hadn’t taken those trips with Bruce and Bennett. I wish you wouldn’t hobnob with them in the future.” “They’re both very sweet.”
‘Those men are my enemies, Nola. They are dedicated to my destruction. And you’re my wife. Pick your side and stay with it. Don’t try to shuttle back from one camp to the other.“ ”They’re very fond of you, Claude. They have your welfare at heart.“
‘They’d like to ship me to Antarctica for keeps,“ Regan said. ”Preferably in a coffin. Decide where your loyalty lies, Nola.“
She smiled. “With you, of course.” “Really?”
‘You’re my husband.“ ”Yes. Yes, that’s true, isn’t it?“
‘If you didn’t want me to spend time with those men, you should have told me so in advance.“
‘I never expected-I mean-oh, God, Nola, can’t you see? They’re out to break me!“
‘And what did you do to them last year?“ ”What I did was for the benefit of Global Factors as much as it was for me. What they’d like to do now is destruction for its own sake. They hate me for having pushed them aside, and so they want to knock me down-even though it would make them richer if I continued to run the company.“
‘They seem to think it’ll make them bankrupt,“ Nola said. ”They’re very worried about your tie-in with the Fair.“
‘I’ll come out ahead,“ Regan said grimly. ”I give you my word on that, just as I gave it to them. Nola, keep away from them! If you love me, keep away!“
He didn’t give her a chance to say anything further. He moved in on her, put his arms around her, just as though they were still in love and not merely tenants of the same house. For an instant, she resisted, but only for an instant. Her stiffness melted, and there she was, pliable and warm in his arms. He drew her close.
It seemed almost as though she were on his side. But he couldn’t be sure. With Nola, he could never be sure of anything, anymore-except that he could no longer trust her.
Regan released her, finally. Dots of color stippled her cheeks. Her expression was less chill. “Claude, let’s take a trip together.”
‘I’ve just come home, Nola.“
‘I don’t care. I’ve just come home, too. Let’s go away somewhere for two or three weeks.“
He shook his head. “I’d love to, Nola. But I can’t. I’ve got to stay on the firing line and see this thing through. You’ve got to understand that.”
‘Let’s go to Mars, Claude,“ she persisted. ”There aren’t many people who can afford to do that, but we can. Let’s go. When I was on the Moon with Rex Bennett, he took me to the observatory, and I saw Mars. Big and red, with the lines and the green spots at the poles. I want to go, Claude!“
‘Maybe later in the year.“
‘Why not now?“
‘I’ve been away for months,“ he said hoarsely. ”I can’t take another trip. Please understand it.“ He caught her hand. It was cold, cold and bloodlessly pale. ”We’ll go to Mars, Nola. That’s a promise. But not now. Give me a few months to get back into harness. We’ll go. Together. A little later in the year, Nola.“
The idea remained with him in the next few days. The thought of Mars haunted him. A second honeymoon? Well, why not? Somewhere along the way, during his rise to the executive suite at the Carlin Building, he and Nola had lost each other, but was that necessarily forever? The two of them, wandering the red dunes of Mars, perhaps visiting the Martians themselves. Yes, he thought. The Martians! No one had known of them, the last time Regan had been to Mars. He had gone-alone -in ‘85, when he was still one of Uncle Bruce’s fair-haired boys, and no one had known of the desert dwellers then. It was time for a return visit. With Nola, he thought. Get her away from her plush world of couturiers and flatterers, get her off to the wilderness, to the real frontier.
But not now.. Now, there was work to do.
Problems were multiplying like toadstools underfoot. Trying to hold down two demanding jobs at once was proving impossible even for the Factor Regan. Tim Field, acting in his stead at Global, was doing a fine job-but even Field was showing the strain.