There were no robots in sight at the Earthview restaurant, although the menus and wine list appeared on display screens built into the table-tops. Instead of tablecloths, each place setting rested on a small mat of glittering lunar honeycomb metal, as thin and flexible as silk.
Humphries ordered wine from their waiter. As soon as the young man walked away from their table, Cardenas hunched forward again and whispered, “Now! Tell them now! The sooner they know the safer they’ll be.”
He gave her a hard look. Apparently the nanobugs in her bloodstream can’t deal with the effects of too little sleep, he thought. Or maybe she has nightmares. She’s on a royal guilt trip, that’s certain.
“We agreed, Dr. Cardenas,” he said softly, “that we would warn them just as they approached the outer fringes of the Belt. That won’t happen for another day and a half.”
“I want you to warn them now,” she insisted. “I don’t care what we agreed on.”
With the barest shake of his head, Humphries said, “I’m afraid I can’t do that. We must stick to our plan.”
“I was insane ever to agree to this,” Cardenas hissed.
“But you did agree,” Humphries pointed out. “In the long run, you’ll be glad that you did.”
It had been so easy to turn her. Humphries considered that his one major talent was finding the weak spot in other people’s personalities, and then playing on their weaknesses to get what he wanted. It worked with Dan Randolph and his ridiculous crusade to save the Earth. It worked with Dr. Cardenas and her burning anger against the Earth and the people who had separated her from her husband and family.
The wine came. Humphries tasted it and sent it back. There was nothing really wrong with it, but Humphries simply felt like asserting himself. Subtly. Cardenas probably doesn’t understand what’s going on, not at the conscious level, he thought. But down in her guts she’s got to know that I’m the one in charge here. I make the decisions. I mete out the rewards and the punishments.
She sat in stony silence while the embarrassed waiter took away the wine and swiftly returned with another bottle. Humphries sipped at it. Not as good as the first one, really, but he had established his point.
“This is fine,” he murmured. “You may pour.”
They ordered dinner. Cardenas barely picked at hers as, course by course, the dishes came and were taken away again. Humphries ate heartily. He was almost enjoying Cardenas’s discomfort.
At last, after the waiter had left their desserts and walked away from the table, Cardenas said, “Well, if you won’t tell them, I will.”
“That’s not what we agreed on,” Humphries said tightly.
“To hell with what we agreed on! I don’t know why I let you talk me into it.”
“You let me talk you into it because I can get you back to Earth, back to your ex-husband and your children and grandchildren.”
“He’s remarried,” she said bitterly. “There’s no point in messing up his life any more than I have already.”
Humphries almost smiled. She’s really riding the guilt train, he said to himself.
Aloud, he coaxed, “But your grandchildren. You do want to see them, don’t you? If you prefer, I could arrange to have them come up here, you know.”
“I’ve asked them to come up, just for a visit. Begged them,” Cardenas said. “They won’t do it. They’re terrified that they’ll be refused re-entry back to Earth. That they’ll be exiled here, just as I am.”
Smoothly, Humphries said, “I can arrange a visit for them. Outside normal channels. I can guarantee that they’ll be allowed to return to their homes.”
He saw new hope kindled in her eyes. “You could?”
“No sweat.”
She sat in silence while her dessert slowly melted. Humphries spooned his up, watching her, waiting.
“But don’t you understand how dangerous it is?” she blurted at last. “They’re going out past Mars, for god’s sake. There’s no one out there to help them.”
“Randolph’s no fool,” he said sharply. “When the ship’s systems start to fail he’ll turn around and come back here. In a big hurry.”