The dining room was almost empty and the majordomo quickly rushed to the side of the stranger in the richly cut clothes. Jason was lean and dark and moved with a positive, self-assured manner. More like the owner of inherited wealth than a professional gambler. This appearance was important and he cultivated it. The cuisine looked good and the cellar turned out to be wonderful. He had a professional and enthusiastic talk with the wine steward while waiting for the soup, then settled down to enjoy his meal.
He ate leisurely and the large dining room was filled before he was through. Watching the entertainment over a long cigar killed some more time. When he finally went to the gaming roonls, they were filled and active.
Moving slowly around the room, he dropped a few thousand credits. He scarcely noticed how he played, giving more attention to the feel of the games. The play all seemed honest and none of the equipment was rigged. That could be changed very quickly, he realized. Usually it wasn’t necessary; house percentage was enough to assure a profit.
Once he saw Kerk out of the corner of his eye, but he paid him no attention. The ambassador was losing small sums steadily at seven-andsilver and seemed to be impatient. Probably waiting for Jason to begin playing seriously. He smiled and strolled on slowly.
Jason settled on the dice table as he usually did. It was the surest way to make small winnings. And if I feelit tonight, I can clean this casino out! That was his secret, the power that won for him steadily-and every once in awhile enabled him to make a killing and move on quickly before the hired thugs came to get the money back.
The dice reached him and he threw an eight the hard way. Betting was light and he didn’t push himself, just kept away from the sevens. He made the point and passed a natural. Then he crapped out and the dice moved on.
Sitting there, making small automatic bets while the dice went around the table, he thought about the power. Funny, after all the years of work, we still don’t know much about psi. They can train people a bit, and improve skills a bit-but that’s all.
He was feeling strong tonight, he knew that the money in his pocket gave him the extra lift that sometimes helped him break through. With his eyes half closed he picked up the dice-and let his mind gently caress the pattern of sunken dots. Then they shot out of his hand and he stared at a seven.
It was there.
Stronger than he had felt it in years. The stiff weight of the million credits had done it. The world all around was sharp-cut and clear and the dice were completely in his control. He knew to the tenth credit how much the other players had in their wallets and was aware of the cards in the hands of the players behind him.
Slowly, carefully, he built up the stakes.
There was no effort to the dice; they rolled and sat up like trained dogs. Jason took his time and concentrated on the psychology of the players and the stickman. It took almost two hours to build his money on the table to seven hundred thousand credits. Then he caught the
stickman signaling they had a heavy winner. He waited until the hardeyed man strolled over to watch the game, then he breathed on the dice, bet all his table stakes-and blew it all with a single roll. The houseman smiled happily, the stickman relaxed-and, out of the corner of his eye, Jason saw Kerk turning a dark purple.
Sweating, pale, his hand trembling ever so slightly, Jason opened the front of his jacket and pulled out one of the envelopes of new bills. Breaking the seal with his finger, he dropped two of them on the table.
“Could we have a no-limit game,” he asked. “I’d like to-win back some of my money.”
The stickman had trouble controlling his smile now, he glanced across at the houseman who nodded a quick yes. They had a sucker and they meant to clean him. He had been playing from his wallet all evening; now he was cracking into a sealed envelope to try for what he had lost. A thick envelope, too, and probably not his money. Not that the house cared in the least. To them money had no loyalties. The play went on with the Casino in a very relaxed mood.