Free The Five Gold Bands by Jack Vance Page A

that’s supporting them all.
    “And marvelous crops they grow here, Fay. The finest fruits and vegetables—all Earth imports, since the original growth was rank poison. And the plants have changed as much as the men when they came to be Badaus.”
    Paddy looked at Fay earnestly. “This is Mary’s own truth now I’m telling you and as I’m Patrick Delorcy Blackthorn I’ve been here before and I know the country. You won’t believe it when you see oranges growing on vines and them as big as pumpkins.
    “And they grow a wheat that comes in heads the size of my foot, low to the ground, with a pair of leaves like lilypads. They’ve got grapes now with a brittle end that you knock off and a gallon of wine pours out. They’re marvelous good botanists, these Badaus.”
    Fay was studying the chart. “There’s Slettevold—that’s the largest city. A clearing-house for export and import, it says. We could land there and maybe have our boat vapor-plated. A nice dull green instead of this gunmetal. I don’t think we’d be conspicuous.”
    Paddy squinted down at the wide bright face of Badau. “There’s such a lather of little boats flipping in and out of here that an Earther would hardly believe it, not knowing the secrets of Langtry’s sons. One little space-boat the more or the less will hardly be looked at.”
    “They might think it strange for Earthers to own a space-boat. Not many do. Mostly they come by the passenger packets.”
    Paddy rubbed his chin. “If we land at Outer Slett Field about dusk—there’s no control or examination there—we should be able to walk into Slettevold without question.”
    “It’s about dusk now at Slettevold,” said Fay. “There’s the field so let’s set down before they send a warhead up after us.”
    Outer Slett Field lay behind the warehouses and packing sheds which lined the main field. It was a wide irregular space, undeveloped, used by private owners, small traders. There was no control tower, no radar beam, and when Paddy and Fay climbed out into the warm dusk no eye turned to look after them.
    Paddy took a few steps, turned to watch Fay walking toward him—slowly as if she were wearing a heavy knapsack. He grinned.
    “Bed will be the finest thing you ever felt, young lady. Your knees will be like oiled hinges and your feet will ache as if they’d been trod by a horse. But in a day or so you’ll not notice so much. And if you stayed here a while your neck would swell and your sons would grow up short and tough and rubbery and your grandsons would be Hunks as coarse and ugly as the best of ’em.”
    Fay sniffed. “Not if I have the picking, as I intend, of their father.” She stared around the luminous blue-green sky. “Where’s the town from here, Mr. Baedeker?”
    Paddy gestured toward a grove of low heavy-trunked trees at the edge of the field. “If memory serves me there’s a tube station in this direction. It’ll take us to the heart of the town.”
    Painfully they walked to the concrete ramp which led down to a pair of metal doors. Paddy pressed twice. A moment later the doors snapped back and they entered a little car with two seats.
    The doors slid shut, there was a sense of rapid motion. A moment later the doors opened to the sounds of the city. Fay looked at Paddy. “Free? Doesn’t someone make us pay?”
    Paddy said, “All the utilities were put in by the Langtry family. They’re so wealthy that they don’t need our miserly coins. Noblesse oblige . We’re on the biggest family estate in the universe.”
    They stepped out on a broad street lined with low heavy buildings, all with plate-glass fronts on the lower levels. Fay read a legend on the portico of a long arcade. “‘Slettevold Inn’—that sounds good. Let’s get ourselves a bath and some fresh food.”
    “ Hah! ” Paddy laughed. “That’s not for the likes of us, young lady. We’re Earthers. They’d not let us past the doors.”
    Fay stared incredulously. “Do you mean