"You can't take him out without one!" Pete replied. He opened a locker
and pulled out a transparent facepiece. "I think this'll tighten down
enough to fit his face."
She took it and walked over to the youngster. His large eyes had
followed all her movements and he drew back slightly as she held out the
respirator. "It won't hurt," she coaxed. "You have to wear it. The air
outside stings."
The little face remained steady but the eyes were fearful as Jane slid
the transparent mask over his head and tightened the elastic. It pulsed
slightly with his breathing.
"Better wrap him in this," Pete suggested, pulling a duroplast jacket
out of the locker. "Air's tough on skin."
The girl nodded, pulling on her own respirator. She stepped quickly into
her duroplast suit and tied it. "Thanks a lot, Pete," she said, her
voice slightly muffled. "See you tomorrow."
Pete grunted as he watched her wrap the tiny form in the jacket, lift it
gently in her arms, then push through the door.
The girl walked swiftly up the street. It was quieter now, but in a
short time the noise and stench and garishness of New Reno would begin
rising to another cacophonous climax.
The strange pair reached a wretched metal structure with an askew sign
reading, "El Grande Hotel." Jane hurried through the double portals, the
swish of air flapping her outer garments as the air conditioning unit
fought savagely to keep out the rival atmosphere of the planet.
There was no one at the desk and no one in the lobby. It was a forlorn
place, musty and damp. Venus humidity seemed to eat through everything,
even metal, leaving it limp, faded, and stinking.
She hesitated, looked at the visiphone, then impulsively pulled a chair
over out of the line of sight of the viewing plate and gently set the
little boy on it. She pulled the respirator from her face, pressed the
button under the blank visiphone disk. The plate lit up and hummed
faintly.
"Patrol Office," Jane said.
There was a click and a middle-aged, square-faced man with blue-coated
shoulders appeared. "Patrol Office," he repeated.
"This is Jane Grant. I work at the Elite Cafe. Has anyone lost a little
boy?"
The patrolman's eyebrows raised slightly. "Little boy? Did you find
one?"
"Well--I--I saw one earlier this evening," she faltered. "He was sitting
at the edge of the street and I took him into the cafe and fed him."
"Well, there aren't many children in town," he replied. "Let's see." He
glanced at a record sheet. "No, none's reported missing. He with you
now?"
"Ah--no."
He shook his head again, still looking downward. He said slowly, "His
parents must have found him. If he was wandering we'd have picked him
up. There is a family that live around there who have a ten-year-old kid
who wanders off once in a while. Blond, stutters a little. Was it him?"
"Well, I--" she began. She paused, said firmly, "No."
"Well, we don't have any reports on lost children. Haven't had for some
time. If the boy was lost his parents must have found him. Thank you for
calling." He broke the connection.
Jane stood staring at the blank plate. No one had reported a little boy
missing. In all the maddening confusion that was New Reno, no one had
missed a little boy.
She looked at the small bundle, walked over and slipped off his
respirator. "I should have told the truth," she murmured to him softly.
"But you're so tiny and helpless. Poor little thing!"
He looked up at her, then around the lobby, his brown eyes resting on
first one object, then another. His little chin began to quiver.
The girl picked him up and stroked his hair. "Don't cry," she soothed.
"Everything's going to be all right."
She walked down a hall, fumbling inside her coveralls for a key. At the
end of the hall she stopped, unlocked a door, and carried him inside. As
an afterthought she locked the door, still holding the small bundle in
her arms. Then she placed him on a bed, removed the jacket and threw it
on a chair.
"I don't know why I should go to all this trouble," she said, removing
her protective coveralls. "I'll probably get picked up by the Patrol.
But _somebody's_ got to look after you."