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.In contrast to the landing dome, the dwelling had been profusely and wildly decorated.There were flowers, live and cut, everywhere.Shelves and walls held drawings framed and unframed, along with what Simeon supposed ought to be called found objects.But the place was none too clean.A housework robot stood propped at an angle in one corner of the room, the drivers on two corners of its base unable to reach the dusty floor.No one had expended the moment's effort necessary to set the machine upright.Page 75ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlThe three visitors overtook their hostess in the first large room they came to amid heaps of garish pillows, more flowers and food containers, most of which were used and empty.Some of the furniture was reasonably conventional, and some of that was broken.The dark-haired woman looked at them uncomfortably, murmured something that might have been "Wait here," and disappeared again through another doorway.Simeon supposed the odds were even as to whether she intended to come back or whether she was going to communicate with Spence.The men looked at each other and sat down, rather uneasily.After about five minutes the three, still waiting, heard faint murmurings of machinery that were, to expert ears, suggestive of a ship's arrival.In a couple of minutes more, Spence Benkovic hurried into the room, to his visitors' relief.Greetings were exchanged, and Benkovic offered drinks, though rather doubtfully, as if he wasn't sure what he had in stock.The offer was politely declined.To Domingo, Benkovic seemed a bit nervous but gave no indication of being on drugs.The lean, dark-bearded man admitted readily enough, though, that he was running out of money.He'd got emergency relief funds, like other colonists, but the harvesting wasn't what it had been.Benkovic seemed fascinated when he was told of Domingo's hunting plans and said he was ready to try something new, something that would provide him with a stake.The captain could give assurances on that point."I'm paying bonuses to all my crew." When he named a figure, Benkovic was impressed.He should have been.Domingo had owned a fair amount of prime property on Shubra."I hear you're good with a ship.But before I sign you on formally, I want to make sure of that for myself.We'll take a test flight in the Pearl.""No problem.""Good.How soon can you be ready?"Benkovic sighed, as if he'd been waiting a long time for someone to ask him that."Whenever you are."The young woman, still nameless to the visitors and still naked, had followed Spence back into the room and curled herself up on a couch, as if withdrawing from the world.Now she made an inarticulate sort of sound that might have been meant as a question.She looked with a vaguely appealing expression from one man to another.Spence Benkovic looked at her."Oh yeah.Pussy here— she's no spacer.""Too bad," Iskander murmured, acting sympathy.Benkovic looked at him, then said to Domingo: "Something will have to be done about her.''"Before you can leave.""Well… I'm afraid so, yeah.""What'll have to be done?"There was some discussion, in which Pussy—if that was really her name—chose to take nopart.Benkovic pleaded her case.In the end the captain found it necessary to stake the young woman also, turning over enough money to allow her to get on a ship to another world of her choice.She'd come to Shubra after the disaster, Benkovic said, so didn't qualify for any kind of government relief.Fortunately Spence had no other companions on the moon at present.Spence picked up some flowers, fresh-looking this time, as his visitors were saying good-bye.Simeon wondered confusedly if they were each going to get a small bouquet on parting.But the flowers were intended for something else.As Benkovic was walking with his visitors back to their ship, taking a different tube this time, they passed a construction, an arrangement of odd materials, chunks of rock, components that had once been parts of furniture, Page 76ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlother things harder to identify, that had been piled and fastened together into what looked like a monument of some kind.The structure was almost three meters high, and at the base proportionally broad [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]