Free Eros at Zenith: Book 2 of Tales of the Velvet Comet by Mike Resnick Page A

them had been fed, and once more the room was silent, except for an occasional gentle trilling.
    “Could you turn out the light for a minute?” asked the Dragon Lady.
    “It's not time yet,” replied the Black Pearl. “I don't want to confuse them.”
    “Just for a minute. Then you can turn it back on.”
    The Black Pearl smiled and ordered the light to shut off—and an instant later the room was bathed in the living glow of the crystalline flowers.
    “Just beautiful!” commented the Dragon Lady. “You know, sometimes when I'm on duty late at night, I activate the cameras in here and just stare at them.”
    The Black Pearl commanded the light back on. “Do you really?”
    “Yes. What are they worth on the open market these days?” asked the Dragon Lady curiously.
    “There's no open market for them, unless you live on Doradus IV—but you can get, oh, maybe five thousand credits apiece for the big ones, and two each for the babies.” She paused. “You can have one for free, if you'd like.”
    The Security Chief shook her head. “They take too much work to keep alive.”
    “It's not easy,” agreed the madam.
    “Then why do you bother?”
    “I like to do it. I think when I quit here, I'm going to raise Night Crystals for a living.”
    “That's a long time in the future.”
    “Don't bet on it,” replied the Black Pearl. “I've saved a lot of money—and of course I get very good investment advice from some of our patrons. I plan to be off the Comet and out of the business within three years.”
    “I think that raising flowers—even Night Crystals—for a living would bore you to tears,” said the Dragon Lady firmly.
    “It hasn't yet.”
    “You haven't done it full-time yet,” answered the Dragon Lady. “The Velvet Comet is a difficult habit to break.”
    The Black Pearl laughed. “You think I have an insatiable desire to sleep with another 5,000 strangers?”
    “You don't do that anymore unless you want to,” replied the Security Chief. “I'm talking about running the ship.” She paused, then added: “You have the capacity to be one of the best madams we've had.”
    “It's nice of you to say so, but I've got more to do with my life than be remembered as a legendary madam.”
    “I didn't say you were . I said you had the capacity to become one. You still need more seasoning.”
    “Oh?”
    “Yes. You're very much like Mr. Crane in that respect.”
    “ Him ,” she said contemptuously.
    Suddenly a number of the Night Crystals started moaning gently.
    “Let's go back to my office and talk there,” said the Black Pearl. “They're very sensitive to human emotions, and if you plan to talk about the Republic's Greatest Detective any further, it's just going to get them all upset.”
    She ordered the door to open and walked through it, followed by the Dragon Lady. It slid shut behind them, and a moment later they were seated on a pair of comfortable sofas in the office.
    “Can I offer you something to drink?” asked the Black Pearl.
    “A Cygnian cognac would be nice.”
    “Coming right up,” she replied, searching through her stock of liquors. “Speaking of the boy wonder, how is his investigation coming along?”
    “I suspect he'll be through with it in two or three more days.”
    “That fast?” she asked, startled. “He knows his stuff; then?”
    “He's very good,” said the Dragon Lady. “I don't think I'd want to be the killer right now.”
    “Then in your opinion we still need him?” said the Black Pearl reluctantly, handing the Dragon Lady her cognac and sitting down opposite her with a mixed drink of her own.
    “Absolutely,” said the Security Chief. “I would never admit it to him , but he has already discovered a number of things that I overlooked.”
    “Such as?”
    “Such as the fact that the body had been moved. I had been up and down that tunnel three times, even though I'd been ordered to wait for him, and I walked right by the ventilation shaft each time. I