"Of course."
"It's not just because of this diver?"
"Why, honey, how could you think such a thing? If I'd never brought it
in for you, I'd still want to marry you."
"You never said so before," she said. "But okay. If you do it now.
Right now, Sol Jones."
So the merchandise stopped coming in while we plugged into the video
and participated in a moving and legal ceremony. The marriage service
was expensive, but after all we could teleport in a few thousand credit
blanks from the Solar Treasury. Immediately after we had switched off,
we did so.
"Are you sure you married me for myself, Sol?"
"I swear it, honey. No other thought entered my head. Just you."
I made a few notes while Florence planned the house we would have,
furnished with rare materials from anywhere. I thought one of the
medium asteroids would do for a base for Sol Jones Intragalactic
Transport. I could see it all, vast warehouses and immediate delivery
of anything from anywhere. I wondered if there was a limit to the
diver's capacity, so Florence desired an encyclopedia and in it came,
floating through the doorway.
"It says," she read, "not much is known about Antimony IX divers
because none have ever been known to leave their planet."
"They probably need the stimulus of an educated mind," I said. "Anyway,
this one can get diamonds from Jupiter and so on, and that's what
matters."
* * * * *
I kissed the wife of the President of Sol Jones Intragalactic and
was interrupted by discreet tapping on the door. The manager of the
Asteroid-Central beamed at us.
"Excuse," he said. "But we understand you have just been married, Mr.
and Mrs. Jones."
"Irrevocably," I said.
"Felicitations. The Asteroid-Central will be sending up complimentary
euphorics. There is just a small point, Mr. Jones. We notice you have a
large selection of valuable gifts for the bride."
He looked round the room and smiled at the piles of stuff Florence had
thought of.
"Of course," he went on, "we trust your stay will be pleasant and
perhaps you will let us know if you will be wanting anything else."
"I expect we will, but we'll let you know," I said.
"Thank you, Mr. Jones. It is merely that we noticed you had emptied
every showcase on the ground floor and, a few moments ago, teleported
the credit contents of the bar up here. Not of importance, really; it
is all charged on your bill."
"You saw it and didn't stop it?" I yelled.
"Oh, no, Mr. Jones. We always make an exception for Antimony IX divers.
Limited creatures, really, but good for our business. We get about one
a month--smuggled in, you know. But the upkeep proves too expensive.
Some women do shop without more than a passing thought, don't they?"