Free The Mind Pool by Charles Sheffield Page A

like.”
    “Tonight.”
    “Esro, I can’t. It’s too late. I was hoping you’d be staying with me—just for the one night.” She came to stand behind him and put her hands on his shoulders. “I don’t ask much, you know that. You don’t have to fake it for me any more. I don’t want the same old promises: how you’ll find a place for me, how you’ll take me with you away from Earth. I’m past all that. Just stay here tonight. That’s all I’m asking.”
    He reached up to cover her hands with his own. “Princess, you don’t understand. When I come to Earth, I always want to see you. But I’ve got to be honest with you, too. When I come to Earth, I have to see the Froppers, find out if they can help me yet. I’ll stay here tonight, of course I will. But would you at least try to make an appointment now for a Fropper meeting, as soon as I can be fitted into the new one’s schedule? That way I’ll have some hope of a few hours’ sleep tonight.”
    Tatty leaned over his shoulder and kissed Mondrian quickly on the lips. “Of course I will. My poor, poor Essy. Is it still as bad as ever?”
    “It’s worse. Every year, it tightens and tightens.” Mondrian sat up straight, lifting Tatty with him. “There’s one other thing, then I can relax. Luther Brachis.”
    “What about him?”
    “If he’s going to be on Earth for a while, I have to know what he’s doing here. I thought I might put King Bester on my payroll, but I’m not sure he stays bought. We need someone we can trust. Could you contact the Godiva Bird and put her onto Brachis?”
    “That will cost a fortune. Do you have any idea how much Godiva charges?”
    “Budget isn’t the problem. Go ahead and do it. My staff insist that women are one of Luther’s weaknesses.”
    “Pity they’re not one of yours.” Tatty straightened and moved away from Mondrian. “Esro, you sit there and try to enjoy your brandy. I’ll arrange for Godiva, and I’ll fix an appointment with the Fropper. If only you could relax, even for one night—you’re so driven. ”
    “We’re all driven, Princess—every last one of us.” Mondrian glanced across at the tiny glass spheres, each filled with purple liquid, that sat within easy reach. There was a row or them in every room in the apartment. “Maybe some day I will leam to relax—and maybe someday you’ll learn to stop being a Paradox addict.”
    Tatty had been moving towards the door, heading for the communications unit in the next room. Now she paused. “I wish I could stop, Essy.”
    “Paradox killed Rattafee, Princess.”
    “Do you think I’m not aware of that, more than you are? I know it. As well as I know that your work is going to kill you—unless you find something else to get you there quicker.” She sighed. “Just try to relax, Esro. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Chapter 6
    “Not to live here,” said King Bester. “No one in their right mind would live on the surface.”
    A “surface” apartment of Delmarva was defined, by real estate agent convention, as anything less than one kilometer underground. The final outer layer, where roof met open sky, was reserved for automated agriculture and land management. Humans, keep out! Anyone with a perverse urge to sample the “natural” surface life could gratify it easily enough with a trip to central Africa or to South America. The surface reservations there, complete with their protected wild species, still stretched for thousands of square miles.
    But the surface of Delmarva Town was a fine place for agriculture. And it was a truly perfect place for an illegal Needler lab—for anyone who could stand the idea of exposure to open sky.
    Luther Brachis and King Bester hid their discomfort from each other as they left the final ascent tube and walked up a ringing steel staircase out onto the cultivated soil of the city. Brachis hated those unpredictable breezes. To him they still carried their message of lock failure and hard vacuum.