Free Hot Sleep by Orson Scott Card

anybody's life. I don't know anybody with a motive. I was told, after the taping."
    "Damn."
    "How are the loops from this trip?"
    "Oh, some good stuff. My fleet got caught in an ambush near Kapittuck and we fought our way out without losses. Very dramatic. Some good close–ups, too, you'll be in gravy for the next five or ten wakings."
    "So will you," Hop said.
    "Sure," Jazz answered. "And I have so much time on Capitol to enjoy it."
    (Don't complain, you bastard. When I started working for you three centuries ago we were both in our teens, subjectively speaking, and now count my gray hairs. I wake up every five years, while you coast through life waking only three or four times a century, staying young forever — )
    "You look great, Hop," Jazz said.
    "You, too, Jazz old man," Hop said, using the obscenity freely.
    They reached the bottom of the ramp, where police were struggling to hold the crowd back from charging up to meet them. "Here are the lions," Jazz said, and then they waded into the crowd of outreaching hands and hungering eyes.
    They went to a party that night — after all, wakings were short and all the pleasure had to be crammed into only a few short days and weeks. Besides, eleven actresses doing lifeloops were there, and all of them had paid a tidy sum to get Hop to promise that Jazz Worthing would not only attend, but also spend at least three minutes talking to them. Jazz took care of the duty calls right away, and then proceeded to win a small fortune (a drop in the bucket) at pinochle, losing his preoccupied look for a few hours. The hostess, Arran Handully, a former actress who had now
    "retired" — which meant she only made guest appearances in other women's lifeloops — was forever fluttering around Jazz and Hop, bringing them drinks, making charming conversation: obviously Jazz was her prize for the evening. Hop fleetingly wondered if she had arranged her waking just to coincide with his coming. That would be flattery indeed.
    After the party had been going for about four hours or so, Arran Handully called for silence, which after a few minutes was grudgingly granted to her.
    "One of the reasons for this party is that Fritz Kapock has designed a new costume that is so compelling, so magnificent, that I had to show it to you the best way I know — on me."
    Since there was nothing remarkable about the dress she was wearing — floor–length white with long sleeves that ended in gloves and a high neck — everyone knew she was going to dance, which would be fine, she had a Capitolwide reputation for interesting effects, and one of the bestselling lifeloops in history had been her "Rehearsal Day" tape in which she had practiced every conceivable dance pose and motion, nude.
    The Kapock design was interesting enough — as she danced her ordinary–looking dress began to glow brightly, dazzlingly, and slowly the guests realized that it was dissolving somehow in the process. The bright aura lingered for several minutes after she was completely naked, and when she ended her dance sparks still seemed to dance around her. The guests applauded wildly — some with lust, some with real appreciation, and a few with gratitude: with this on their loops, more than one budding young actress would have a good start to her career.
    After her bow, she brought out Kapock, the designer, who also bowed stiffly.
    "Poor guy," Hop commented to Jazz, "he hates the bitch, but who can turn down a commission these days? Inflation eats it up faster than you can spend it. And the price of lower somec ratings is always going up."
    Arran picked up a drink from a passing tray and walked out among her guests. The other women soon realized that she had no intention of dressing again, and so they sighed and undressed, too, wishing they hadn't bothered to spend so much money on costumes for the party.
    Arran went to Jason Worthing and handed him the drink. Immediately a group of lifelooping women and interested onlookers gathered to