"I don't know. I don't know who hired me, for that matter; it was done through m~y boss. Perhaps we can forget the othersÄdepends on your plan."
"Let's talk money."
"Let's talk plans first."
"Uh... do you think you can imitate my voice?"
Tilly answered, " `Uh... do you think you can imitate my voice?'
"Do that again!"
" `Do that again!'
I sighed. "Okay, Tilly, you can do it. The Daily Forward says that breakout near Botany Bay is sometime tomorrow and, if the figures are as sharp as they were for Outpost, we'll hit stationary orbit and put boats down about midday the day after tomorrowÄless than forty-eight hours from right now. So tomorrow I fall ill. Very sad. Because I had had my heart set on going down to the surface for all those wonderful excursions. The exact timing on my plan depends on when those landing boats are scheduled, which must waitÄif I understand the matterÄuntil we break out into normal space and they can predict exactly when we will hit stationary orbit. Whenever that is, the night before the boats go down, around oh-one hundred when the corridors are empty, I leave. From there on you're both of us. You don't let anyone in; I'm too ill.
"If anyone calls for me by terminal, be careful not to switch on the video pickupÄI never do. You're both of us on anything you can handle, or, if you can't, I'm asleep. If you start to impersonate me and it gets too sticky, why, you're just so fogged up with fever and medicine that you're not coherent.
"You'll order breakfast for both of usÄyour usual breakfast for you, and tea and milk toast and juice for the invalid."
"Friday, I can see that you're planning on stowing away in a landing boat. But the doors to the landing boats are always locked when not in use. I know."
"So they are. Not your worry, Til."
"All right. Not my worry. Okay, I can cover for you after you leave. What do I tell the Captain after you've gone?"
"So the Captain is in on it. I thought so."
"He knows about it. But we get our orders from the purser."
"Makes sense. Suppose I arrange for you to be tied up and gagged and your story is that I jumped you and did it to you. I can't, of
course, because you have to be both of us from very early morning to whatever time the boats leave. But I can arrange to have you tied and gagged. I think."
"That would certainly improve my alibi! But who is the philanthropist?"
"You remember our first night in the ship? I came in late, with a date. You served us tea and almond cakes."
"Doctor Madsen. You're counting on him?"
"I think so. With your help. That night he was kind of eager."
She snorted. "His tongue was dragging on the rug."
"Yes. It still is. Tomorrow I become ill; he comes to see me, professionally. You are here, as usual. We have the lights turned off in the bedroom end. If Dr. Jerry has the steady nerves I think he has, he'll take what I'll offer. Then he'll cooperate." I looked at her. "Okay? He comes to see me the next morningÄand ties you up. Simple."
Tilly sat and looked thoughtful for long moments. "No."
"No?"
"Let's keep it really simple. Don't let anyone else in on it. Not anybody.I don't need to be tied up; that would just cause suspicion. Here's my story: Sometime not very long before the boats go down you decide that you are well; you get up, get dressed, and leave the cabin. You don't tell me your plans; I'm just the poor dumb maidÄ you never tell me such things. Or maybe you've changed your mind and are going on the ground excursion anyhow. It doesn't matter either way. I am not charged with keeping you in the ship. My sole responsibility is to keep an eye on you here in the cabin. I don't think it's Pete's responsibility to keep you in the ship, either. If you manage to jump ship, probably the only one who gets burned is the Captain. And I'm not crying over him."
"Tilly, I think you are right, on all points. I had assumed that you would want an alibi. But you're better off without one."
She looked at me and smiled. "Don't let that keep you from taking Dr. Madsen to bed. Enjoy yourself. One of my jobs was to keep men out of your bedÄas I think you knowÄ"
"I figured it out," I agreed dryly.
"But I am switching sides, so that is no longer the case." Suddenly she dimpled. "Maybe I should offer Dr. Madsen a bonus. When
he calls on his patient the next morning and I tell him that you're well and have gone to the sauna or something." -
"Don't offer him that sort of bonus unless you mean business. As I know that he means business." I shivered. "I'm certain."
"If I advertise, I deliver. Are we all straight?" She stood up, I followed.
"All but what I owe you."
"I've been thinking about that. Marj, you know your circumstances better than I do. I'll leave it up to you."
"But you didn't quite tell me what you are being paid."
"I don't know. My master hasn't told me."
"Are you owned?" I felt sudden distress. Any AP would.
"No longer. Or not quite. I was sold on a twenty-year indenture. Thirteen years to go. Then I'm free."
"ButÄ Oh, God, Tilly, let's get you off the ship, too!"
She put a hand on my arm. "Take it easy. You've got me thinking about it. That's the main reason I don't want to be tied up. Marj, I'm not on the ship's rolls as indentured. Consequently I can take a groundside excursion if I can pay for itÄand I can. Maybe I'll see you down there."
"Yes!" I kissed her.
She pulled me to her strongly, and the kiss gained speed. She was moaning against my tongue and I felt her hand inside my robe.
Presently I broke the kiss and looked into her eyes. "Is that how it is, Tilly?"
"Hell, yes! From the first time I bathed you."
That evening the migrants leaving the ship at Botany Bay staged a lounge show for the first-class passengers. The Captain told me that such shows were traditional and that the first-class passengers customarily contributed to a purse for the colonistsÄbut that it was not compulsory. He himself went to the lounge that nightÄalso traditionalÄand I found myself sitting with him. I used the opportunity to mention that I was not feeling well. I added that I might have to cancel my reservations for dirtside excursions. I groused about it a bit.
He told me that, if I did not feel perfectly fit, I certainly should not risk exposing myself on the surface of a strange planetÄbut not
to worry about missing Botany Bay, which wasn't much at best. The rest of the trip was the wonderful part. So be a goot girl or should I lock you in your room?
I told him that, if my tummy didn't stop acting up, it wouldn't be necessary to lock me up. The trip down to Outpost had been horridÄspacesick all the wayÄand I wouldn't risk anything like that again. I had laid groundwork for this by pecking at my food at dinner.
The show was amateurish but jollyÄsome skits but mostly group singing: "Tie Me Kangaroo Down," "Waltzing Matilda," "Botany Bay," and, for an encore, "The Walloping Window Blind." I enjoyed it but would have thought nothing of it were it not for a man in the second row of the group singers, a man who looked familiar.
I looked at him and thought: Friday, have you become the sort of careless, sloppy slitch who can't remember whether she's slept with a man or not?
He reminded me of Professor Federico Farnese. But this man was wearing a full beard, whereas Freddie had been smoothshavenÄwhich proves nothing as there had been time enough to grow a beard and almost all men get overtaken by the beard mania one time or another. But it did make it impossible for me to be certain by looking at him. This man never sang a solo, so voice did not help.