There was a quick knock on my door, and then it opened. An old Line private came in. He might have been my father. His uniform was tailored perfectly, but worn in places. There were hash marks from wrist to elbow.
“Private Hartz reporting, zur.” He had a thick accent, but it wasn’t pure anything; a lot of different accents blended together. “Sergeant Major sent me to be the lieutenant’s dog-robber.”
And what the hell do I do with him? I wondered. It wouldn’t do to be indecisive. I couldn’t remember if he’d been part of the detachment in the ship, or if he was one of the garrison. Falkenberg would never be in that situation. He’d know. The trooper was standing at attention in the doorway. “At ease, Hartz,” I said. “What ought I to know about this place?”
“I don’t know, zur.”
Which meant he was a newcomer, or he wasn’t spilling anything to officers, and I wasn’t about to guess which. “Do you want a drink?”
“Thank you, yes, zur.”
I found a bottle and put it out on the dressing stand. “Always leave two for me. Otherwise, help yourself,” I told him.
He went to the latrine for glasses. I hadn’t known there were any there, but then I wasn’t all that familiar with senior officers’ quarters. Maybe Hartz was, so I’d gained no information about him. He poured a shot for himself. “Is the lieutenant drinking?”
“Sure, I’ll have one.” I took the glass from him. “Cheers.”
“Prosit.” He poured the whiskey down in one gulp. “I see the lieutenant has unpacked. I will straighten up now. By your leave, zur.”
He wandered around the room, moving my spare boots two inches to the left, switching my combat armor from one side of the closet to the other, taking out my dress uniform and staring at it inch by inch.
I didn’t need an orderly, but I couldn’t just turn him out. I was supposed to get to know him, since he’d be with me on field duty. If any, I thought. To hell with it. “I’m going down to the officers’ mess,” I told him. “Help yourself to the bottle, but leave me two shots for tonight.”
“Zur.”
I felt like an idiot, chased out of my own quarters by my own batman, but I couldn’t see what else to do. He was clearly not going to be satisfied until he’d gone over every piece of gear I had. Probably trying to impress me with how thorough he was. They pay dog-robbers extra, and it’s always good duty for a drinking man. I was pretty sure I could trust him. I’d never crossed Ogilvie that I knew of. It takes a particularly stupid officer to get on the wrong side of the sergeant major.
It wasn’t hard to find the officers’ club. Like everything else, it had been built for a regiment, and it was a big building. I got a surprise inside. I was met by a Marine corporal I recognized as one of the detachment we’d brought with us. I started to go into the bar, where I saw a number of militia officers, and the corporal stopped me.
“Excuse me, sir. Marine club is that way.” He pointed down the hall.
“I think I’d rather drink with the militiamen, Corporal.”
“Yes, sir. Sergeant Major told me to be sure to tell all officers, sir.”
“I see.” I didn’t see, but I wasn’t going to get into an argument with a corporal, and there wasn’t any point in being bullheaded. I went down the hall to the Marine club. Deane Knowles was already there. He was alone except for a waiter—another trooper from our detachment. In the militia bar the waiters were civilians.
“Welcome to the gay and merry life,” Deane said. “Will you have whiskey? Or there’s a peach brandy that’s endurable. For God’s sake, sit down and talk to me!”
“I take it you were intercepted by Corporal Hansner,” I said.
“Quite efficiently. Now I know it is Fleet practice to carry the military caste system to extremes, but this seems a bit much, even so. There are, what, a dozen Marine officers here, even including our august selves. So we immediately form our own club.”
I shrugged. “Maybe it’s the militiamen who don’t care for us?”
“Nonsense. Even if they hated our guts, they’d want news from Earth. Meanwhile, we find out nothing about the situation here. What’s yours?”
“I’ll try your brandy,” I told the waiter. “And who’s the bartender when you’re not on duty?”
“Don’t know, sir. Sergeant Major sent me over—”
“Yes, of course.” I waited for the trooper to leave. “And Sergeant Major takes care of us, he does, indeed. I have a truly formidable orderly—”
Deane was laughing. “One of the ancients? Yes. I thought so. As is mine. Monitor Armand Kubiak, at my service, sir.”
“I only drew a private,” I said.
“Well, at least Ogilvie has some sense of propriety,” Deane said. “Cheers.”
“Cheers. That’s quite good, actually.” I put the glass down and started to say something else, but Deane wasn’t listening to me. He was staring at the door, and after a moment I turned to follow his gaze. “You know, I think that’s the prettiest girl I ever saw.”
“Certainly a contender,” Deane said. “She’s coming to our table.”
“Obviously.” We got to our feet.
She was definitely worth looking at. She wasn’t very tall. Her head came about to my chin, so that with the slight heels on her sandals she was just taller than Deane. She wore a linen dress, blue to match her eyes, and it looked as if she’d never been out in the sun at all. The dress was crisp and looked cool. Few of the women we’d seen on the march in had worn skirts, and those had been long, drab cotton things. Her hair was curled into wisps around her shoulders. She had a big golden seal ring on her right hand.
She walked in as if she owned the place. She was obviously used to getting her own way.
“I hope you’re looking for us,” Deane said.
“As a matter of fact, I am.” She had a very nice smile. An expensive smile, I decided.
“Well, you’ve excellent taste, anyway,” Deane said.
I don’t know how he gets away with it. I think it’s telepathy. There’s no particular cleverness to what he says to girls. I know, because I made a study of his technique when we were in the Academy. I thought I could learn it the way I was learning tactics, but it didn’t work. What Deane says doesn’t matter, and how he says it doesn’t seem important. He’ll chatter along, saving nothing, even being offensive, and the next thing you know the girl’s leaving with him. If she has to ditch a date, that can happen, too.
I was damned if it was going to happen this time, but I had a sinking feeling, because I’d been determined before and it hadn’t done me any good. I couldn’t think of one thing to say to her.
“I’m Deane Knowles. And this is Lieutenant Slater,” Deane said.
You rotten swine, I thought. I tried to smile as she offered her hand.
“And I’m Irina Swale.”
“Surely you’re the Governor’s daughter, then,” Deane said.
“That’s right. May I sit down?”
“Please do.” Deane held her chair before I could get to it. It made me feel awkward. We managed to get seated, and Private Donnelley came over.
“Jericho, please,” Irina said.
Donnelley looked blankly at her.
“He came in with us,” I said. “He doesn’t know what you’ve ordered.”
“It’s a wine,” she said. “I’m sure there will be several bottles. It isn’t usually chilled.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Donnelley said. He went over to the bar and began looking at bottles.
“We were just wondering what to do,” Deane said. “You’ve rescued us from terminal ennui.”
She smiled at that, but there was a shadow behind the smile. She didn’t seem offended by us, but she wasn’t really very amused. I wondered what she wanted.
Donnelley brought over a bottle and a wineglass. “Is this it, ma’am?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
He put the glass on the table and poured. “If you’ll excuse me a moment, Lieutenant Knowles?”
“Sure, Donnelley. Don’t leave us alone too long, or we’ll raid your bar.”
“Yes, sir.” Donnelley went out into the hall.
“Cheers,” Deane said. “Tell us about the night life on Arrarat.”
“It’s not very pleasant,” Irina said.
“Rather dull. Well, I guess we expected that—”
“It’s not so much dull as horrible,” Irina said. “I’m sorry. It’s just that . . . I feel guilty when I think about my own problems. They’re so petty. Tell me, when are the others coming?”
Deane and I exchanged glances. I started to say something, but Deane spoke first. “They don’t tell us very much, you know.”