Roger shook his head. ‘I’m an ex-mayor and a private traveler. Never mind the brass bands.’
‘But you’ll take the dancing girls?’
‘I’m a married man. Thanks anyhow.’
‘If we had any dancing girls I’d keep ’em for myself. And I’m a married man, too.’
‘You certainly are!’ A plump, plain but very jolly woman had floated up behind them.
Yes, Martha.’ They completed the rest of the introductions; Mrs Fries took Hazel in tow; the twins trailed along with the two men, into the forward half of the globe. It was a storeroom and a shop; racks had been fitted to the struts and thrust members; goods and provisions of every sort were lashed or netted to them. Don Whitsitt clung with his knees to a saddle in the middle of the room with a desk folded into his lap. In his reach were ledgers on lazy tongs and a rack of clips holding several hundred small account books. A miner floated in front of him. Several more were burrowing through the racks of merchandise.
Seeing the display of everything a meteor miner could conceivably need, Pollux was glad that they had concentrated on luxury goods then remembered with regret that they had precious little left to sell; the flat cats, before they were placed in freeze, had eaten so much that the family had been delving into their trade goods, from caviar to Chicago sausage. He whispered to Castor, ‘I had no idea the competition would be so stiff.’
‘Neither did I.’
A miner slithered up to Mr Fries. ‘One-Price, about that centrifuge -‘
‘Later, Sandy. I’m busy.’
Captain Stone protested, ‘Don’t let me keep you from your customers.’
‘Oh, Sandy hasn’t got anything to do but wait. Right, Sandy? Shake hands with Captain Stone — it was his wife who fixed up old Jocko.’
‘It was? Say, I’m mighty proud to know you, Captain! You’re the best news we’ve had in quite a while.’ Sandy turned to Fries. ‘You better put him right on the Committee.’
‘I shall. I’m going to call a phone meeting this evening.’
‘Just a moment!’ objected Roger Stone. ‘I’m just a visitor. I don’t belong on your Citizens’ Committee.’
Fries shook his head. ‘You don’t know what it means to our people to have a medical doctor with us again. The Committee ain’t any work, really. It’s just to let you know we’re glad you’ve joined us. And we’ll make Mrs Stone — I mean Doctor Stone — a member if she wants it. She won’t have time for it, though.’
Captain Stone was beginning to feel hemmed in. ‘Slow down! We expect to be leaving here come next Earth departure — and my wife is not now engaged in regular practice, anyhow. We’re on a pleasure trip.’
Fries looked worried. ‘You mean she won’t attend the sick? But she operated on Jock Donaher.’
Stone was about to say that she positively would not under any circumstances take over a regular practice when he realized that he had very little voice in the matter. ‘She’ll attend the sick. She’s a doctor.’
‘Good!’
‘But, confound it, man! We didn’t come here for that. She’s on a vacation.’
Fries nodded. ‘We’ll see what we can work out to make it easy on her. We won’t expect the lady to go hopping rocks the way Doc Schultz did. Get that, Sandy? We can’t have every rock-happy rat in the swarm hollering for the doctor every time he gets a sore finger. We want to get the word around that if a man gets sick or gets hurt it’s up to him and his neighbours to drag him in to City Hall if he can possibly wear a suit. Tell Don to draft me a proclamation.’
The miner nodded solemnly. ‘That’s right, One-Price.’
Sandy moved away; Fries went on, ‘Let’s go back into the restaurant and see if Martha has some fresh coffee. I’d like to get your opinion on several civic matters’
‘Frankly, I couldn’t possibly have opinions on your public affairs here. Things are so different’
‘Oh, why don’t I be truthful and admit I want to gossip about politics with another pro. I don’t meet one every day. First, though, did you have any shopping in mind today? Anything you need? Tools? Oxy? Catalysts? Planning on doing any prospecting and if so, do you have your gear?’