"You got it."
"So you know what the deal is." "We got to like the place first." "Maybe you should try the special."
"Sure, specials all round."
Hark realized that there was some kind of liberty ritual getting started here. The special came in liter steins, piping hot, heavily spiced, and accompanied by beakers of ice water. Hark took a first experimental swallow, and his head swam. The drink had to contain other intoxicants in addition to the alcohol. Although powerful, the effect was much more subtle than the burn of the raw booze he'd tasted on the Anah 5. After three rounds of specials, Dyrkin made up his mind.
"Yo, Vana!"
"You want another round?"
"We want to make this place our home base for the duration."
Vana nodded. "Fourteen of you?" "Fourteen."
'Ten thumbs per man per thousand minutes. We supply the food, and we invite over some of our friends. Deal?"
Dyrkin looked around at the others. Not all of them looked completely sold on the booth, but they all nodded. They had to concede that Dyrkin knew how to run a liberty.
"Deal."
The grade-two armorer, who had been facedown on the table for a while, sat up with a start. The woman in silver had already begun to exchange glances with Renchett.
"What the hell is going on in here?" the armorer demanded drunkenly.
He got unsteadily to his feet and squinted blearily at the troopers.
"Forsaken ground monkeys."
He had clearly taken leave of his reason.
"I ain't sharing a bar with no ground monkeys."
Renchett was on his feet and coming around the table.
"We got a problem here?"
He slapped the drunk hard on the chest with the flat of his hand. "Because-if you got a problem-" He punctuated his words with further slaps. His voice was flat and unemotional. "-then you-better-leave."
The drunk staggered backward. Renchett was maneuvering him in the direction of the exit. When he had the armorer where he wanted him, he propelled him through the doorway with a practiced kick. This was more than enough for the e-vac crew. They practically fell out of their seats.
"We ain't no heroes. You can have the place."
The fourteen had secured their territory.
Just as Vana had promised, the women quickly began to arrive. To everyone's delight they seemed to have no reservations about getting acquainted with the troopers. A young, very rounded olive-skinned woman who said her name was Zydell had wriggled into Hark's lap after only the most minimal of invitations. The specials had started to make Hark a little dizzy. He'd started to sweat and was seeing the faintest of blurred hallucinations. On the advice of Vana, he'd switched to a pale amber concoction that was called a juliet. The dizzy feeling had abated and he'd stopped sweating, but if anything, the hallucinations had become more intense. After three Juliets, and with Zydell smiling, stroking his ear, and running her hands over his close-cropped hair, he felt uncommonly good. Better, in fact, than he could ever remember feeling before. This had to be the real reward of the warrier. Zydell held up her sensor box, and he happily pressed his thumb into it and eased down in his seat, luxuriating in the sense of well-being. Then an unfortunate thought struck him. Maybe this was exactly the way the Therem wanted him to feel. More of their bloody psychology. He was surprised at the strength of his own cynicism.
A trio of dancers in huge painted masks with exaggeratedly full, red lips and heavy sultry eyes swayed into the booth. After they'd completed a complex and highly erotic dance, they went around collecting thumbprints. The other women were vocal in their encouragement to give generously. At this point, Renchett, who had been kissing the woman in the silver tunic, looked around at the other men.
"Think we may be giving a bit freely with the thumbs, my brothers."
There was a chorus of disagreement from the women, but Renchett shook his head and held up a hand for silence.
"The way you have to look at it, my brothers, is that if all of us went sticking our thumbs in every receptacle that presented itself, we'd end up devaluing the currency."
There were shouts of approval from the men and catcalls from the women.
Zydell squirmed in Hark's lap. "That's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard."
Hark grinned. It had to be another liberty ritual, convincing the women that they wouldn't settle for anything less than value for print.
"I heard that if a man makes too free with his thumbprint, the sensors start refusing to accept it."
Vana raised a quizzical eyebrow. "I never heard that."
Zydell nuzzled Hark's ear. "You're not going to stop pressing my box, are you?"
Hark was about to thumb the sensor when a voice in his head warned him to back off for a moment. He held up his thumb.
"You heard what the topman said. Maybe I shouldn't be making too free with this."
Zydell didn't fit quite as comfortably into his lap anymore. "You want me to go?"
Hark didn't even have to summon his courage. The Juliets led him smoothly into it. "I thought you and me might go someplace together."
"I'd want double to go to my place. If you're so concerned about your precious thumb, we could do it right here. Some of your messmates don't seem too concerned about privacy."
Hark looked around and saw that a handful of the men had already retired to the shadows and were writhing on the floor with their female companions. He recognized Helot, nearest to the light, but he couldn't make out the features of the others. Hark didn't think that he could handle anything so public.
"I think I'd rather go for double."
At that moment, Vana put another juliet in front of him. He tetdn't actually asked for it, but he thumbed her sensor just the same. He didn't want to be too cheap. He put an arm round Zydell.
"We'll go to your place as soon as I've finished this."
"Sure." She didn't sound particularly enthusiastic.
The first fight started before the drink was gone. As liberty fights went, it was a comparatively mild affair. A gang of crawler jockeys, some ten in number and in worse condition than any of the the men from the Anah 5, stumbled through the entrance. Clearly they were unaware that the booth with the phallic snake banner had already been taken. Inside the door, they stopped dead, those in the rear stumbling blindly into the leaders.
"What?"
"The goddamn place is full of ground monkeys."
The troopers looked up, but nobody moved.
"Ah, let's get out of here. We don't need no trouble."
For a moment, it seemed as if this voice of reason might prevail and, despite the insult, the intrusion would come to nothing. Then a much more slurred voice piped up.
"Hell, we can take 'em."
Two more equally slurred voices joined in.
"Sure, screw 'em."
"Any crawler hump can take ground monkeys." This one seemed to fancy himself an orator. He glanced at his companions. "Am I right?"
The response was the kind of bravado of which only the very drunk are capable.
"Yeah, right!"
"Screw 'em."
The point of no return had been passed.
Renchett and Dyrkin were on their feet, the woman in silver protesting as she slid from Renchett's lap to the floor. The other troopers were also rising. The women were scrambling for cover. Dyrkin faced the drop pilots.
"You've got ten seconds to get out of here."
"Screw you!"
The crawler jockeys surged forward in a disorganized knot, but they really didn't stand a chance. Their reactions were slowed, and they hadn't had the same basic combat training as the troopers had. They weren't able to operate as a cohesive group. The troopers, on the other hand, drunk as they were, went to work together like a machine. Boots, fists, and the odd blackjack rained down a hail of blows. Renchett was swinging a chair in a wide circle. In less than a minute, it was all over. Four jocks were unconscious on the floor, and the rest had fled. Vana was inspecting the booth, totaling the damage in her head. The troopers were congratulating each other and calling for more booze. They had come through the incident virtually unscathed. Kendo had lost a tooth to a wild punch, and Dacker had been kicked in the groin, but that was all. Hark was one of the ones delegated to drag the unconscious jockeys outside and dump them in the corridor. He came back grinning and rubbing his hands with the air of a man who feels he's completed a well-done job. He had managed to get in a few licks of his own before the strangers had cut and run. His grin faded as he discovered that Zydell was nowhere to be seen. Damn. He'd been about to leave with her. All he could do was inwardly shrug and call for another drink. There were plenty more where she came from. At least, he hoped there were.