"And he'll never find out," she said instantly. "He only holds
precious things he can't have. My love--passion--call it what you will,
is one thing he can't buy."
"I'm afraid I don't understand," I said. "Why did you marry him if--"
"It was that or die a spinster. Every young man who looked twice at me
disappeared. At first I thought Daffy would get tired of being married
to a perennial virgin, but I was wrong. It's the only thing that has
kept him interested in me."
I said, "I suppose it's a natural form of perversity for a man of his
wealth and power."
She wheeled, hands on hips. "Perverse? Yes, he's perverse. And
perverted and bestial and greedy, boorish, cruel, inhuman,
self-centered, insane, piggish--"
She glanced over my shoulder and stopped. "And a completely devoted
husband," Major Daphne slobbered behind me. He reeled through the
entry, loose-lipped, dishevelled and very drunk. He brushed me aside
and lurched past me, arms outstretched. "My li'l Nellie's only one
'preciates me."
For a second Annellica was a platinum-haired statue, then she moved to
meet him, bringing up an expert knee that struck too high to injure
him, but low enough to crush the breath from his lungs.
Daphne clomped down on all fours gasping. "He knows better than that,"
his wife said. It was such a cold-blooded blow that I reacted.
"Maybe if you'd give him half a chance--" I said.
"I'd wind up as a niece," she snapped at me. "_Wait until you see what
happens to them._"
"Shut up!" Daphne rolled to his side doubled up and glared at
Annellica. "Shut up, Nellie, before I kill you."
* * * * *
I left the domestic tableau to resolve itself and sought my cabin. I
stayed there through the remainder of the heavy acceleration, but when
we went into free flight the Major dragged me out.
The party was still in full force with the three other girls doing
titivating push-offs from wall to wall, convoluting their lovely bodies
into incredible ballet formations which Daphne took keen delight
in disrupting with licentious hands--like a spoiled child pricking
colorful balloons. Each fiasco ended in shrieks of laughter and mock
combat, until the Major was snugged back in his hold-down strap,
promising to behave.
Frequently he would raise his arms and aim an imaginary rifle.
"Ka-chunk! Broke a leg that time. Ka-chunk! Right in the hip!" Then
he'd holler over at me, "Never gut-shoot 'em. Break a bone."
Annellica remained bored and indifferent to the revelry. She drank
sparingly and passed up a hundred opportunities to be alone with me.
She paid meticulous attention to her husband's wants with the quiet
efficiency and anticipation of a trained secretary, but I caught her
eyeing me with a most provocative, speculating look. My experience with
married virgins was too limited to interpret her glances.
All revolved around the Major. When he ate, we all ate. When he
over-drank and slept, we slept.
I never did discover which three nieces were supposed to be "mine."
None paid me any attention, and Daphne, much to my relief, never
insisted upon my activity in his Bacchanalian affairs.
* * * * *
Before we arrived at Tigursh II I was quite fed up with my host, drunk
or sober. His indefatigable, sensual tastes wore on my nerves, but I
still had no conception of the Roman carnival this was to turn into.
We touched down a few hundred yards from my prospecting camp which was
located at the edge of the two-hundred-mile plain. Daphne stowed the
girls in their rooms like so many playthings, and the faceless captain
announced that the ramp was down.
At the first smell of the hot, humid, over-rich air, the Major rared
back his head and said, "I like it!"
I had forgotten the rather exhilarating effect of the high-oxygen
content. Coupled with the low-gravity, Tigursh II induced a mild
euphoria on its human visitors. My planet was small and dense, and the
rapid rotation--once every seven and a half hours--made for violent,
capricious air currents and weather.
"I'll hike over to the compound and check on my crew," I told Daphne as
the three of us bounced down the ramp.
"Don't bother," he said imperiously. "We passed them on the way in.
Meant to tell you. I've been checking on them. You've got a nice
thorium deposit, but it's a mile under that mud down there in the
jungle." He waved carelessly to the south.
"You what?" I said incredulously.
"They were dissatisfied," Daphne said. "I gave them a furlough with
pay. Like to have a place to myself, y'know."
"What goddam right did you have to--"
"Right?" He rolled the word around in his mouth as if it were a brand
new concept. Then he chuckled. "Quit crying. They wanted off. I sent my
ship after them. Saved you a hunk of cash. Hauled their samples back,
too."
When I failed to respond he continued, "Let's not spoil the trip over
it. Tell you what. I'll buy the mineral rights from you. How's that?"
"For a cold billion dollars," I said without thinking. He didn't bat a
lash.
"Throw in the exclusive hunting rights and it's a deal," he said.
"She's yours to the core," I said quickly, "minerals, animals and
vegetables." The cost of mining the thorium was completely beyond my
means and my previous efforts to sell the whole planet had met with
offers of less than a tenth of this amount.
He tilted his head back to glance at Annellica. "Get that? Easy to
remember. A round billy for the parcel." She nodded, and he turned back
to me. "Congratulations, Frost. Now you're a billionaire. Let's eat.
I'm hungry."
Annellica produced a small hamper and followed along behind us as we
strolled over toward the heavy greenery. I was still feeling weak.
Having your only planet jerked from beneath your feet was not an
experience I especially savored, in spite of the profit I realized. It
gave me a better insight to Annellica's answer to my question. "Love?
What has that to do with--anything?"
What Daphne wanted was his. He didn't need the minerals, and he
was here at my invitation for the hunting. But--let's not have any
unpleasantness. Spend a billion, and keep things friendly!
* * * * *
He spotted a herd of heavy animals grazing a quarter of a mile away.
Squatting, he waved us down in the deep grass. "We'll eat here," he
said. "Keep an eye on those herbivores. They're close to the trees. See
if anything comes after them."
Centaurus was a faint, golden ball above a high overcast. It was never
meridian in the summer season, so the orb hung well up from the murky
horizon to the south.
Daphne seemed unaffected by the oxygen, but I had a feeling of
well-being that approached intoxication. Annellica moved between us
spreading the lunch. For the first time on the trip I felt genuinely
hungry and began popping morsels into my mouth before she was finished
laying it out.