“Oh, fine. Under a different name, she’s now our finance minister.” Matheny stared out the
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wall, his hands twisting nervously behind his back. “There were no lies involved. She really does have a fatal disease. So do you and I. Every day we grow older.”
“Uh!” exclaimed Doran.
“And then the Red Ankh Society. You must have seen or heard their ads … let me think . .. ‘What mysterious knowledge did the Old Martians possess? What was the secret wisdom of the Ancients? Now the incredibly powerful semantics of the Red Ankh (not a religious organization) is available to a select few’ “
“Oh, those. Sure. But aren’t they out in California?”
“Just a front,” said Matheny. “Actually, that’s our largest dollar-earning enterprise.” He would have liked to say it was his suggestion originally, but that would have been too presumptuous. He was talking to an Earthman, who had heard everything already.
Doran whistled.
“That’s about all, so far,” confessed Matheny. “Perhaps a con is our only hope. I’ve been wondering, maybe we could organize a Martian bucket shop, handling Martian securities, but Well, I don’t know.”
“I think” Doran removed the helmet and stood up.
“Yes?” Matheny faced around, shivering with his own tension.
“I may be able to find the man you want,” said Doran. “I.just may. It will take a few days and might get a little expensive.”
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“You mean . .. Mr. DoranGusyou could actually”
“I cannot promise anything yet except that I will try. Now you finish dressing. I will be down in the bar. And I will call up this girl I know. We deserve a celebration!”
Peri was tall. Peri was slim. Peri smoldered when she walked and exploded when she stretched. Her apartment was ivory and ebony, her sea-green dress was poured on, and the Neo-Cretan mode had obviously been engineered to her personal specifications.
She waved twelve inches of jade cigaret holder, lifted her glass, and murmured throatily: “To you, Pete. To Mars.”
“I, I, I,” stammered Matheny. He raised his own glass. It sjopped over. “Oh, damn! I mean . .. gosh, I’m so sorry, I”
“No harm done. You aren’t used to our gravity yet,” Peri extended a flawless leg out of her slit skirt and turned it about on the couch, presumably in search of a more comfortable position. “And it must seem terribly cramped here on Earth, Pete,” she continued, “after roaming the desert, hunting, sleeping under the twin moons. Two moons! Why, what girl could resist that?”
“Uh, well, as a matter of fact, the moons are barely visible,” floundered Matheny.
Peri pouted, dimpling her cheeks. “Must you spoil my dreams?” she said. “When I think of Mars, the frontier, where men are still men, why, my breast swells with emotion.”
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“Uh, yes.” Matheny gulped. “Swell. Yes.”
She leaned closer to his chair. “Now that I’ve got you, don’t think you’ll get away,” she smiled. “A live Martian, trapped!”
Doran looked at his watch. “Well,” he said, “I have got to get up tomorrow, so I had better run along now.”
“Ta-ta,” said Peri. Matheny rose. She pulled him down beside her. “Oh, no, you don’t. Mars lad. I’m not through with you yet!”
“But, but, but,” said Matheny.
Doran chuckled. “I’ll meet you on the Terrace at fourteen hundred hours tomorrow,” he said. “Have fun, Pete.”
The door closed on him.
Peri slithered toward her guest. He felt a nudge and looked down. She had not actually touched him with her hands. “Gus is a good squiff,” she said, “but I wondered if he’d ever go.”
“Why, why . .. what do you mean?” croaked Matheny.
“Haven’t you guessed?” she whispered.
She kissed him. It was rather like being caught in a; nuclear turbine, with soft blades.
Matheny, said Matheny, you represent your planet.
Matheny, said Matheny, shut up.
Time passed.
“Have another drink,” said Peri, “while I slip into something more comfortable.”
Her idea of comfort was modest in one sense of the word: a nightdress or something, like a breath of smoke, and a seat on Matheny’s lap.
THE INNOCENT ARRIVAL