The Lake of Clouds was Omega's finest vacation resort. Upon entering the
district, all weapons had to be checked at the main gate. No duels were
allowed under any circumstances. Quarrels were arbitrarily decided by
the nearest barman, and murder was punished by immediate loss of all
status.
Every amusement was available at the Lake of Clouds. There were the
exhibitions such as fencing bouts, bull fighting, and bear baiting.
There were sports like swimming, mountain climbing, and skiing. In the
evenings there was dancing in the main ballroom, behind glass walls
which separated residents from citizens and citizens from the elite.
There was a well-stocked drug bar containing anything the fashionable
addict could desire, as well as a few novelties he might wish to sample.
For the gregarious, there was an orgy every Wednesday and Saturday night
in the Satyr's Grotto. For the shy, the management arranged masked
trysts in the dim passageways beneath the hotel. But most important of
all, there were gently rolling hills and shadowy woods to walk in, free
from the tensions of the daily struggle for existence in Tetrahyde.
Barrent and Moera had adjoining rooms, and the door between them was
unlocked. But on the first night, Barrent did not go through the door.
Moera had given no sign of wanting him to do so; and on a planet where
women have easy and continual access to poisons, a man had to think
twice before inflicting his company where it was not wanted. Even the
owner of an antidote shop had to consider the possibility of not being
able to recognize his own symptoms in time.
On their second day, they climbed high into the hills. They ate a basket
lunch on a grassy incline which sloped away to the gray sea. After they
had eaten, Barrent asked Moera why she had saved his life.
"You won't like the answer," she told him.
"I'd still like to hear it."
"Well, you looked so ridiculously vulnerable that day in the Victim's
Society. I would have helped anyone who looked that way."