“You’ve never been there?”
“When I was here on the
Tarinthia
I went down for an evening or two. I’ve seen better places.”
Hetzel nodded agreement. “Still, there’s a special atmosphere to Dogtown: vain regrets, lost causes—they hang in the air like smoke.”
“If I ever get away,” muttered Dirby, “I’m going back to Thrope. I’ll work my father’s loquat orchard and never again look at the sky.”
“Perhaps I’ll join you there,” said Hetzel. “Especially if you find yourself unable to pay my fee.”
“I’ll pay you off in loquats if necessary.” Dirby’s eyes gleamed with malicious humor, which Hetzel found at least preferable to sulkiness and self-pity.
“Tomorrow I fly out into the back country,” said Hetzel. “I’ll be gone a day or two; you’ll have to fend for yourself until I get back.”
“Be as mysterious as you like,” Dirby grumbled, once more his usual self. “I’m in no position to complain.”
Chapter IX
Hetzel arrived at the transport depot early in the morning, to find that Janika had already arranged the rental of an air-car. “It’s an old Ray Standard, and it’s supposed to be dependable.”
“There’s nothing a bit faster? We have considerable ground to cover.”
“There’s a new Hemus Cloudhopper, but it’s more expensive.”
“Money means nothing,” said Hetzel. “Let’s take the Hemus.”
“They want to be paid in advance in case we kill ourselves: twenty SLU for two days, which includes insurance and energy.”
Hetzel paid the account. They climbed into the air-car. Hetzel checked out the controls and energy level, then took the vehicle aloft. “Did Vv. Byrrhis make any difficulty about letting you off?”
“Nothing to speak of. I told him that I wanted to take a friend out to Black Cliff Inn, and that was that.”
Axistil and its environs became a set of unlikely patterns on the heave and fall of the downs. Hetzel brought a map to the navigation screen and established a course due north. “I want to investigate the Great Kykh-Kych Swamp,” said Hetzel in response to Janika’s questioning glance. “I don’t know what I’ll find—in fact, I don’t know what I’m looking for. But if I don’t go, I’ll never know.”
“You are a mysterious man, and mysteries are exasperating,” said Janika. “I myself have no secrets whatever.”
Hetzel wondered how much credence could be placed in this remark. Today she wore a short-sleeved blouse of soft-gray cloth trimmed with black piping, black trousers, and jaunty ankle boots—a costume which made the most of her supple figure. She wore no ornaments except a black ribbon binding her hair. An exceedingly attractive young woman, thought Hetzel, fresh and clean-looking, with an air of simplicity which was both charming and suspect.
“Why are you looking at me so intently?” she asked. “Is my nose red?”
“I marvel at your confidence. After all, I’m a stranger to you, and out here beyond the Reach, a stranger is usually a depraved murderer, or a sadistic fiend, or worse.”
Janika laughed, perhaps a trifle uneasily. “Inside or outside the Reach—what’s the difference?”
“You don’t have too much to fear,” said Hetzel. “I’m far too gallant for my own good, although only an Olefract could fail to notice that you are extremely pretty. You make a stimulating companion for a trip like this one.”
“What kind of a trip is a trip like this one?”
“We intend to prove the innocence of one of your former lovers, and save him from the Exhibitory.”
“You astonish me! My ‘former lovers’ are all far away, living the most torpid lives imaginable. I wonder which of them you refer to, and how he managed to get into such mischief.”
“This one is a certain Gidion Dirby.”
Janika frowned. “Gidion Dirby?”
“Yes. A blond young man, obstinate, wrongheaded, seething with emotion. So he is now. Three months ago he might have been a different person
“When I was here on the
Tarinthia
I went down for an evening or two. I’ve seen better places.”
Hetzel nodded agreement. “Still, there’s a special atmosphere to Dogtown: vain regrets, lost causes—they hang in the air like smoke.”
“If I ever get away,” muttered Dirby, “I’m going back to Thrope. I’ll work my father’s loquat orchard and never again look at the sky.”
“Perhaps I’ll join you there,” said Hetzel. “Especially if you find yourself unable to pay my fee.”
“I’ll pay you off in loquats if necessary.” Dirby’s eyes gleamed with malicious humor, which Hetzel found at least preferable to sulkiness and self-pity.
“Tomorrow I fly out into the back country,” said Hetzel. “I’ll be gone a day or two; you’ll have to fend for yourself until I get back.”
“Be as mysterious as you like,” Dirby grumbled, once more his usual self. “I’m in no position to complain.”
Chapter IX
Hetzel arrived at the transport depot early in the morning, to find that Janika had already arranged the rental of an air-car. “It’s an old Ray Standard, and it’s supposed to be dependable.”
“There’s nothing a bit faster? We have considerable ground to cover.”
“There’s a new Hemus Cloudhopper, but it’s more expensive.”
“Money means nothing,” said Hetzel. “Let’s take the Hemus.”
“They want to be paid in advance in case we kill ourselves: twenty SLU for two days, which includes insurance and energy.”
Hetzel paid the account. They climbed into the air-car. Hetzel checked out the controls and energy level, then took the vehicle aloft. “Did Vv. Byrrhis make any difficulty about letting you off?”
“Nothing to speak of. I told him that I wanted to take a friend out to Black Cliff Inn, and that was that.”
Axistil and its environs became a set of unlikely patterns on the heave and fall of the downs. Hetzel brought a map to the navigation screen and established a course due north. “I want to investigate the Great Kykh-Kych Swamp,” said Hetzel in response to Janika’s questioning glance. “I don’t know what I’ll find—in fact, I don’t know what I’m looking for. But if I don’t go, I’ll never know.”
“You are a mysterious man, and mysteries are exasperating,” said Janika. “I myself have no secrets whatever.”
Hetzel wondered how much credence could be placed in this remark. Today she wore a short-sleeved blouse of soft-gray cloth trimmed with black piping, black trousers, and jaunty ankle boots—a costume which made the most of her supple figure. She wore no ornaments except a black ribbon binding her hair. An exceedingly attractive young woman, thought Hetzel, fresh and clean-looking, with an air of simplicity which was both charming and suspect.
“Why are you looking at me so intently?” she asked. “Is my nose red?”
“I marvel at your confidence. After all, I’m a stranger to you, and out here beyond the Reach, a stranger is usually a depraved murderer, or a sadistic fiend, or worse.”
Janika laughed, perhaps a trifle uneasily. “Inside or outside the Reach—what’s the difference?”
“You don’t have too much to fear,” said Hetzel. “I’m far too gallant for my own good, although only an Olefract could fail to notice that you are extremely pretty. You make a stimulating companion for a trip like this one.”
“What kind of a trip is a trip like this one?”
“We intend to prove the innocence of one of your former lovers, and save him from the Exhibitory.”
“You astonish me! My ‘former lovers’ are all far away, living the most torpid lives imaginable. I wonder which of them you refer to, and how he managed to get into such mischief.”
“This one is a certain Gidion Dirby.”
Janika frowned. “Gidion Dirby?”
“Yes. A blond young man, obstinate, wrongheaded, seething with emotion. So he is now. Three months ago he might have been a different person
Similar Books
