"Every goddamned Frontier world I've been to has a story like that," said Dante. "I hope to hell you've found our man." He grimaced. "Damn! It feels like each foot weighs 50 pounds."
"I don't mind the gravity as much as the thin air," she said.
"I don't think I'm especially enamored of the temperature, either," he added.
"It's much better now. Before sundown it's a lot hotter."
"And the Bandit fights Unicorns out here?"
"That's right."
"Well, he's Santiago or he's crazy," said Dante. "I vote for the latter."
"The conditions don't seem to bother him," said Matilda. "He's not like us."
"I'll vouch for that. Let's step it up a little and get out of this goddamned heat and gravity."
She locked her arm in his and gently restrained him. "You don't want to exert yourself in this thin air. You could black out before we reach the restaurant."
Dante slowed down and didn't admit that he was just a bit dizzy. "And he chases Unicorns up and down those hills! Amazing!"
"Don't keep talking," she instructed him. "Save your strength until we're inside the restaurant."
His limbs felt heavier with each step, and he fell silent and walked at her pace. The blocks seemed longer than they were on most Frontier worlds, but that could simply have been because he wanted them to be shorter.
Finally they came to the Golden Bough, and he gratefully entered the airlock with her. His lungs filled with oxygen, and the temperature dropped until it was comfortable if not cool—but his arms and legs still felt like the floor was tugging at them.
"There's no artificial gravity in here," Matilda noted. "I suppose it must cost too much for anything smaller than a hotel."
"Remind me not to order a souffle," he replied wryly.
They were escorted to an empty table by the robotic headwaiter.
"So where's the Bandit?" asked Dante as they sat down.
"He'll be here."
"Yeah, I don't suppose you can kill Unicorns by the clock." He touched a small screen and summoned a waiter.
"How may I help you, sir?" asked the robot in a grating monotone.
"I'd like a beer. A very cold one." He turned to Matilda. "How about you?"
"Make it two," she told the robot.
"Would you care to order?" asked the waiter.
"No, we're waiting for a friend to join us."
The waiter walked to the bar, returning a moment later with their beers.
"You could work up one hell of a thirst walking around this town," commented Dante. He took a long swallow, closed his eyes, and sighed. "God, that's good! I don't think I ever appreciated beer before this evening."
"You'll find you need twice as many fluids as usual if you're going to spend any time outside," said Matilda.
Dante suddenly became aware of the fact that they were no longer alone. A tall man with wavy black hair, his clothes covered by red dust, stood next to their table. Matilda smiled as she saw him.
"Dante Alighieri," she said, "I'd like you to meet the man who saved my life—the One-Armed Bandit."
Dante stood up and shook the man's massive hand. "I've heard a lot about you," he said.
"Ditto," said the Bandit. "Matilda's told me all about you, Mr. Alighieri."
"Won't you sit down?"
"Thank you," said the Bandit. He signaled to the waiter. "Iced water, please—in the tallest glass you've got."
"How did it go today?" asked Matilda, lowering her voice enough so none of the other diners could overhear her.
"It went all right."
"That's all you've got to say?" she demanded.
"I wouldn't want Mr. Alighieri to think I was a braggart, ma'am."
"I won't," Dante assured him. "And I'd also like to hear what happened."
"There's really not much to tell," said the Bandit. "I took a land vehicle out to the mine, and when I didn't see any Unicorns there, I just went farther and farther into the desert until a few of them started throwing rocks at me the way they do. I waited until one of them charged, and before he could reach me I took out the hill where his friends were hiding so there was nothing left of either—the hill or the Unicorns. Then I melted the sand between the one surviving Unicorn and me, so he couldn't walk across it, and I told him that what I'd done was retribution for their killing that miner this morning. Twelve of them for one of us. I told him next time it'd be thirty for one, and then I let him go to spread the word." He paused uncomfortably. "I'm sorry I'm late, but the Democracy won't take my word for how many I killed, so I had to load them onto a couple of airsleds and attach them to the back of my land vehicle."
"And you did that in this gravity and heat!" said Dante admiringly.
"The trick is to not let them see that it bothers you, Mr. Alighieri," said the Bandit.
"Please, call me Dante."
"All right."
"And you killed twelve of them?"
"That's right, Mr. Alighieri."
"Dante."
"I apologize," said the Bandit. "That's the way my mother brought me up, and those early lessons stay with you even out here on the Frontier."
Dante seemed amused. "You don't have to apologize for being polite."
"Thank you," said the Bandit. "I'd call Matilda Miss something-or-other, but she won't tell me what her last name is."
"Welcome to the club," said Dante wryly.
"Dante has become the new Black Orpheus," said Matilda.
"So you told me, ma'am."
"Maybe if you'll tell him about some of your more exciting exploits he'll put them in his poem."
"Oh, I don't think any of 'em are worth putting in a poem," said the Bandit. "Certainly not the kind Orpheus used to write. Those verses were about important people."
"You're important," said Matilda.
"Thank you for saying so, ma'am, but I'm really not."
"You could be," said Dante meaningfully.
"I don't think I follow you, Mr. Alighieri," said the Bandit.
"I'm here on Heliopolis II for a few days," said Dante. "We'll talk about it before I leave. Tonight let's just get to know each other."
"Whatever you say, Mr. Alighieri."
"Dante."
"I'm sorry," said the Bandit. "Sooner or later I'll get it right."
The robot waiter trundled up and took their orders.
"Matilda's told me all about that arm of yours," said Dante as the waiter glided away. "It's quite a weapon. What made you decide to create it?"
"My father was a successful banker back on Spica II," said the Bandit. "He died just about the same time that I lost my arm in the Sett War. I suppose I could have just packed it in and lived on the interest from my inheritance, but I wasn't ready to retire from living yet. The war had kind of aroused my interest in seeing new worlds, so I took every last credit my father left me and found a team that could create this arm for me. I field-tested it in the Canphor VII rebellion, and then came out to the Inner Frontier."