I escorted him to the bar and assisted him in his arduous climb onto a
stool.
"John," I ventured after he'd taken an experimental sip, "where have
you been hiding? A guy like you should be playing every night."
John yawned. "Just got here. Figured I might need some money so I went
to the union. Then I worked on my plan."
"Then you need a job. How about playing with us steady? We like your
style a lot."
He made a long, low humming sound which I interpreted as an expression
of intense concentration. "I don't know," he finally drawled.
"It'd be a steady job, John." Inspiration struck me. "And listen, I
have an apartment. It's got everything, solar shower, automatic chef,
'copter landing--if we ever get a 'copter. Plenty of room there for
two people. You can stay with me and it won't cost you a cent. And
we'll even pay you over union wages."
His watery gaze wandered lazily to the bar mirror, down to the
glittering array of bottles and then out to the dance floor.
He yawned again and spoke slowly, as if each word were a leaden weight
cast reluctantly from his tongue:
"No, I don't ... care much ... about playing."
"What _do_ you like to do, John?"
His string-bean of a body stiffened. "I like to study ancient history
... and I must work on my plan."
Oh Lord, that plan again!
I took a deep breath. "Tell me about it, John. It _must_ be
interesting."
He made queer clicking noises with his mouth that reminded me of a
mechanical toy being wound into motion. "The whole foundation of this
or any other culture is based on the history of all the time
dimensions, each interwoven with the other, throughout the ages. And
the holes provide a means of studying all of it first hand."
_Oh, oh_, I thought. _But you still have to eat. Remember, you still
have to eat._
"Trouble is," he went on, "there are so many holes in this universe."
"Holes?" I kept a straight face.
"Certainly. Look around you. All you see is holes. These beer bottles
are just holes surrounded by glass. The doors and windows--they're
holes in walls. The mine tunnels make a network of holes under the
desert. Caves are holes, animals live in holes, our faces have holes,
clothes have holes--millions and millions of holes!"