When b.e.s.t.i.a.lly young he had dreamed lecherously of such a glorious creature. Older, bitter experience had taught him that they existed outside his price cla.s.s. His eyes worked her over in frank admiration and his imagination worked overtime.
She was Martian, obviously, from her facial structure, if one noticed her face.
Martian, of course. But certainly not one of the Red desert folk, nor one of the spindly yellow-brown Ca.n.a.l-keepers. White. Probably sprang originally from the icy marshes near the Pole, where several odd remnants of the old white races still lived, and lingered painfully on the short rations of dying Mars.
She was pale and perilous and wonderful. Hair was shimmering bright cascade of spun platinum that fell in muted waves upon shoulders of naked beauty. Her eyes swam liquid silver with purple lights dwelling within, and her sullen red lips formed a heartshaped mouth, as if pouting. Heavy lids weighed down the eyes, and heavier barbaric bracelets weighted wrists and ankles. Twin b.r.e.a.s.t.s were mounds of soft, sun-dappled snow frosted with thin metal plates glowing with gemfire. Her simple garment was metalcloth, but so fine-spun and gauzelike that it seemed woven of moonlight. It seemed as un-needed as silver leafing draped upon some exotic flowering, but somehow enhanced the general effect.
Her effect was overpowering. Denver followed her inside and followed her sweet, poisonous witchery as the girl glided gracefully along the aisle between ranked tables. As she entered the glittering room talk died for a moment of sheer admiration, then began in swift whispered accents. Men dreamed inaudibly and the women envied and hated her on sight.
She seemed well-known to the place. Her name, Denver learned from the awed whispering, was--Darbor....
_The Pot o" Stars_ combined drinking, dancing and gambling. A few people even ate food. There was m.u.f.fled gaiety, glitter of gla.s.s and chromium, and general bad taste in the decoration. The hostesses were dressed merely to tempt and tease the homesick and lovelorn prospectors and lure the better-paid mine-workers into a deadly proximity to alcohol and gambling devices.
The girl went ahead, and Denver followed, regretting his politeness when she beat him to the only unoccupied table. It had a big sign, _Reserved_, but she seemed waiting for no one, since she ordered a drink and merely played with it. She seemed wrapped in speculative contemplation of the other customers, as if estimating the possible profits to the house.
On impulse, Denver edged to her table and stood looking down at her.
Cold eyes, like amber ice, looked through him.
"I know I look like a s.p.a.cetramp," he observed. "But I"m not invisible. Mind if I pull up a cactus and squat?"
Her eyes were chill calculation.
"Suit yourself ... if you like to live dangerously."
Denver laughed and sat down. "How important are you? Or is it something else? You don"t look so deadly. I"ll buy you a drink if you like. Or dance, if you"re careless about toes."
Her cold shrug stopped him. "Skip it," she snapped. "Buy yourself a drink if you can afford it. Then go."
"What makes you rate a table to yourself? I could go now but I won"t.
The liquor here"s probably poison but who pays for it makes no difference to me. Maybe you"d like to buy me a short snort. Or just snort at me again. On you, it looks good."
The girl gazed at him languorously, puzzled. Then she let go with a laugh which sparkled like audible champagne.
"Good for you," she said eagerly. "You"re just a punk, but you have guts. Guts, but what else? Got any money?"
Denver bristled. "Pots of it," he lied, as any other man would. Then, remembering suddenly, "Not with me but I know where to lay hands on plenty of it."
Her eyes calculated. "You"re not the goon who came in from the Appenines today? With a wild tale of murder and claim-jumpers and old Martian workings?"
Quick suspicion dulled Denver"s appreciation of beauty.
She laughed sharply. "Don"t worry about me, stupid. I heard it all over town. Policemen talk. For me, they jump through hoops. Everybody knows. You"d be smart to lie low before someone jumps out of a sung-bush and says boo! at you. If you expected the cops to do anything, you"re naive. Or stupid. About those Martian workings, is there anything to the yarn?"
Denver grunted. He knew he was talking too much but the urge to brag is masculine and universal.
"Maybe, I don"t know. Martian miners dabbled in heavy metals. Maybe they found something there and maybe they left some. If they did, I"m the guy with the treasure map. Willing to take a chance on me?"
Darbor smiled calculatingly. "Look me up when you find the treasure.
You"re full of laughs tonight. Trying to pick me up on peanuts. Men lie down and beg me to walk on their faces. They lay gold or jewels or pots of uranium at my feet. Got any money--now?"
"I can pay ... up to a point," Denver confessed miserably.
"We"re not in business, kid. But champagne"s on me. Don"t worry about it. I own the joint up to a point. I don"t, actually. Big Ed Caltis owns it. But I"m the dummy. I front for him because of taxes and the cops. We"ll drink together tonight, and all for free. I haven"t had a good laugh since they kicked me out of Venusport. You"re it. I hope you aren"t afraid of Big Ed. Everybody else is. He bosses the town, the cops and all the stinking politicians. He dabbles in every dirty racket, from girls to the gambling upstairs. He pays my bills, too, but so far he hasn"t collected. Not that he hasn"t tried."
Denver was impressed. Big Ed"s girl. If she was. And he sat with her, alone, drinking at Big Ed"s expense. That was a laugh. A hot one.
Rich, even for Luna.
"Big Ed?" he said. "The Scorpion of Mars!"
Darbor"s eyes narrowed. "The same. The name sounds like a gangsters"
nickname. It isn"t. He was a pro-wrestler. Champion of the Interplanetary League for three years. But he"s a gangster and racketeer at heart. His bully-boys play rough. Still want to take a chance, sucker?"
A waitress brought drinks and departed. Snowgrape Champagne from Mars cooled in a silver bucket. It was the right temperature, so did not geyser as Denver unskilfully wrested out the cork. He filled the gla.s.ses, gave one to the girl. Raising the other, he smiled into Darbor"s dangerous eyes.
"The first one to us," he offered gallantly. "After that, we"ll drink to Big Ed. I hope he chokes. He was a louse in the ring."
Darbor"s face lighted like a flaming sunset in the cloud-canopy of Venus.
"Here"s to us then," she responded. "And to guts. You"re dumb and delightful, but you do something to me I"d forgotten could be done.
And maybe I"ll change my mind even if you don"t have the price. I think I"ll kiss you. Big Ed is still a louse, and not only in the ring. He thinks he can out-wrestle me but I know all the nasty holds.
I play for keeps or not at all. Keep away from me, kid."
Denver"s imagination had caught fire. Under the combined stimuli of Darbor and Snowgrape Champagne, he seemed to ascend to some high, rarified, alien dimension where life became serene and uncomplicated.
A place where one ate and slept and made fortunes and love, and only the love was vital. He smoldered.
"Play me for keeps," he urged.
"Maybe I will," Darbor answered clearly. She was feeling the champagne too, but not as exaltedly as Denver who was not used to such potent vintages as Darbor and SG-Mars, 2028. "Maybe I will, kid, but ask me after the Martian workings work out."
"Don"t think I won"t," he promised eagerly. "Want to dance?"
Her face lighted up. She started to her feet, then sank back.
"Better not," she murmured. "Big Ed doesn"t like other men to come near me. He"s big, bad and jealous. He may be here tonight. Don"t push your luck, kid. I"m trouble, bad trouble."
Denver snapped his fingers drunkenly. "That for Big Ed. I eat trouble."
Her eyes were twin pools of darkness. They widened as ripples of alarm spread through them. "Start eating," she said. "Here it comes!"
Big Ed Caltis stood behind Denver"s chair.
III
Tod Denver turned. "h.e.l.lo, Rubber-face," he said pleasantly. "Sit down and have a drink. You"re paying for it."
Big Ed Caltis turned apoplectic purple but he sat down. A waitress hustled up another gla.s.s. Silence in the room. Every eye focused upon the table where Big Ed Caltis sat and stared blindly at his uninvited guest.