What was not so usual was to have a roof over you when you were “outside.” The broad
transportation corridors, with their constant streams of busy traffic flowing by, were
exactly like streets on any civilized world in the Galaxy, except for the fact that there was
a ceiling of solid stone overhead. This was not so bad at the major intersections, where
the ceiling was a dome that rose perhaps fifteen or twenty meters over the ground level;
but in the tunnels that linked the major caverns, the roof would come down to less than a
meter in spots over the tops of the vehicles traversing the roads. It was a situation that
could produce claustrophobia in even the stoutest of hearts, and Yvette found that, for
the first couple of days, she had to fight down the incipient fear that the ceiling would
cave in on her head at any moment.
Adding to the underground nature of the environment was the fact that Vesa was a maze
that sometimes defied the best analytical minds. A labyrinth of tunnels, some of them
running for kilometers in length, connected a series of large and small caverns in a
seemingly random pattern that only longtime residents were able to decipher. Yvette
became lost almost the instant she drove away from her hotel in one of the ubiquitous ]its
that served as Vesa’s mass transportation system. The driver had never heard of the
casino she wanted to visit, and so he took her to another. “They’re all pretty much the
same,” was his philosophical comment. “You can lose your money just as fast at one as
at another.” She never did find the one she had originally set out for.
After two days of traveling around, though, she came to the conclusion that the driver
had been wrong. True, to the casual eye all the casinos did look alike-flashy rooms filled
with flashy people, bright lights glaring from all directions, loud music pumped through the
atmosphere intermingling with the brash spiels of barkers trying to lure people to this or
that area that was less crowded at the moment. The smells of incense, dopesticks,
cigarettes and a thousand and one individual perfumes assaulted the nostrils. Several
times Yvette found herself feeling terribly nostalgic, for the flavor was almost like that of
the midway of her beloved Circus-though the midway had always been far less frantic
and far more innocent.
The more careful observer, though, could see slight differences between the different
gambling spots. Some of them were cheaper, appealing to the tourists with only
moderate amounts of money to squander, while others were ultraposh and almost
flaunted their exclusivity. Some places tended to be the preserve of older married
couples, while others were definitely the hangout of young singles out for a good time.
Some casinos were brash and garish while others were-for Vesa-almost reserved and
dignified. Each casino had a character and clientele uniquely its own. But no matter
where she went, from the plushest clubs to the lowest dives, there were crowds.
Hundred upon thousands of people jammed into spaces that would have been cramped
with half that many present. Gambling fever was almost a tangible commodity, a
madness infecting everyone around her. It was as though people, having spent so much
of their money just in getting here, felt a desperate desire to lose the rest of it at the
gambling tables. Some of the more intense gamblers went without foo d or sleep for a
day or more at a time.
The magnitude of her problem was beginning to hit home to her. In this faceless mass of
human bodies, it was quite easy to see how thirty-five a day could disappear without
anyone even noticing. They would be replaced as quickly as they vanished by equally
faceless bodies awaiting the slaughter. Yvette had spent a goodly amount of time on
Earth, one of the most highly populated planets in the Empire, and thought she had
known what crowding was like, but this made humanity’s mother planet look like the wide
open spaces. The effect of these surging masses was to dehumanize everyone
involved-a result that left Yvette terribly depressed, despite the showy glamor of the
moon.
It took her only the initial two days of exploration to establish a pattern for herself. In
keeping with the character of Carmen Velasquez, she narrowed her field down to a
handful of casinos that catered to the younger, richer, hipper crowd. The general age
level of the customers at these places was under forty; the clothing was all sharp and in
accordance to the latest fashions from the various sectors of the Empire. Dopesticks
were more common in this crowd than either cigarettes or alcohol, though hardly de
rigeur. The talk was a bit louder, the conversations more intense, the laughter more
spontaneous and natural.
There was a certain repetition of clientele at these places, and after a couple of days of
regular attendance Yvette learned most of the regulars by sight, and a couple by name.
She struck up casual conversations with them and managed to get her story across. It
was impossible to tell who might be an agent of the conspiracy, so Yvette was ready to
talk to anyone who showed even a casual interest in her.
Her gambling habits were quite simple-she stuck to card games exclusively. Her father
and uncle were both masters at cards and she had sat in on many a hand late at night
after the Circus had closed to the rubes, absorbing their knowledge and tricks. She knew
any number of methods of cheating, but did not try them here; the house dealers were
too sharp and Carmen Velasquez was not supposed to be a professional. She did,
however, manage to come out a good distance ahead in the long run, and quickly earned
a joking reputation among her newfound friends as a cardsharp.
“Where’d you ever learn to play like that?” one guy asked after she’d cleaned out his
pockets one afternoon two weeks later.
“It sure as hell wasn’t on Purity,” said another fellow who had managed to retain at least
some of his chips. Yvette allowed herself a demure blush. “After my late husband and I
made our fortune and got ourselves kicked off Purity for being too concerned with
matters temporal instead of spiritual, we resolved to learn all about the pleasant vices.
Gambling was Carlos’ particular passion and he kept insisting that I play cards with him.
Unfortunately I was always better than he was, and it infuriated him when I won. He
swore off gambling once for three whole weeks, he was so mad. I could take it or leave
it alone, which only made him feel worse. I suppose. . . .
“Carmen!” The call of a familiar voice rang out across the room, and Yvette looked up, a
curious mixture of emotions churning through her system.
Card games usually took place in side rooms off the main gambling hall. These rooms
were smaller and a bit less cramped, since most of the tourists preferred to lose their
money quickly and impersonally at the machines and gaming tables. Cards were a
comparatively slow and more involved method of gambling, and appealed only to a
minority of the crowd.
Across this smaller room, hazy though it was with smoke, Yvette could see Dak Lehman
making his way through the press of people towards her table. He must have spotted her
from the doorway, she reasoned. The expression on his face as be came over to her
was a combination of delight and concern.
“I thought for a while I’d never find you,” he said as he finally reached her side. “I’ve been
looking everywhere for you ever since we landed here. I was almost beginning to give up
hope. It was as if Vesa had just swallowed you up or something.
Yvette cast him a startled glance. Does he know something about the disappearances?
she wondered, scrutinizing his expression carefully. But no, there was nothing menacing
or secretive there. It had obviously been a chance remark that meant more to her than it
did to him. Recovering, she said offhandedly, “This is just such an incredible place it’s
easy to get lost. I’m sorry you had to go through such a hassle to find me.
“The only thing that matters is that I have found you,” Dak replied earnestly. Then,
looking around at the other people seated at Yvette’s table, he continued in a lower
voice, “Can we go somewhere to talk privately?.
“I don’t really think there’s anyplace private on this entire moon,” Yvette said, standing up
and sweeping her winnings into her purse with one confident motion. “It’s all so crowded I
sometimes feel selfish when I shower by myself. But if we walk around the casino I don’t
think anyone’ll overhear what we say.
Dak took her arm and escorted her out into the main casino area. The din out here was