"Good!"
"I wish we could. You're right, I can't touch mat 'Richard Ames' bank account as long as storm warnings are up. We'll use your cash-treat it as a loan. You keep track of it-"
"You keep track of it! Damn it, Richard, I'm your wife!"
"Fight over it later. Leave the wig and the geisha costume here; we won't have time today ... as I must first go see Rabbi Ezra. Unless you want to run your errands while I run mine?"
"Buster, are you feverish? I'm not letting you out of my sight."
"Thanks, Maw; that's the answer I wanted. We go see Father Ezra, then we go hunt living computers. If there is time left, we'll do the other chores when we get back."
It being before noon, we looked for Rabbi Ezra ben David by going to his son's fish market across from the city library. The Rabbi lived in a room back of the shop. He agreed to represent me and act as a mail drop. I explained to him my parallel arrangements with Father Schultz, then wrote a note for him to send to "Henrietta van Loon."
Reb Ezra accepted it. "I'll stat it from my son's terminal at once; it should be printed out in Golden Rule ten minutes from now. Special delivery?"
(Draw attention to it? Or accept slower service? Something was stewing in Golden Rule; Hendrik Schultz might have some answers.) "Special delivery, please."
"Very well. Excuse me a few moments." He rolled out of his room, was back quickly. "Golden Rule acknowledged receipt. Now to other matters- I was expecting you. Dr. Ames. That young man who was with you yesterday- Is he a member of your family? Or a trusted employee?"
"Neither one." "Interesting. Did you send him to ask me who was offering a reward for you and the amount of the reward?" "I certainly did not! Did you tell him anything?" "My dear sir! You asked for the traditional Three Days."
"Thank you, sir."
"Not at all. Since he took the trouble to seek me out here instead of waiting for my business hours, I assumed some urgency. Since you did not mention him, I concluded that the urgency was his, not yours. Now I assume, unless you tell me otherwise, that he intends you no good."
I gave the Rabbi a condensed version of our relations with Bill. He nodded. "You know Mark Twain's remarks on such matters?"
"I think not."
"He said that, if you pick up a stray dog, feed it and take care of it, it will not bite you. This, in his opinion, is the principal difference between a man and a dog. I don't agree fully with Twain. But he had a point."
I asked him to name a retainer, paid it without dickering, plus something for luck.
The Authority Complex (officially the "Administration Center," a name found only in print) is west of Luna City, halfway across Mare Crisium. We were there by noon-that tubeway is not ballistic but is nevertheless fast. Once aboard, we were there in twenty minutes.
Noon was the wrong time to arrive. The Complex is made up of government offices; everything shuts down for a leisurely lunch hour. Lunch seemed a good idea to me, too; breakfast was in the remote past. There were several lunchrooms in the tunnels of the complex... with every chair filled with the broad beams of civil servants or occupied by tourists with red fezzes. Queues waited outside Sloppy Joe and Mom's Diner and An-toine's number two. "Hazel, I see vending machines ahead. Can I interest you in a warm Coke and a cold sandwich?"
"No, sir, you cannot. There's a public terminal just beyond the food dispensers. I'll make some calls while you eat."
"I'm not that hungry. What calls?"
"Xia. And Ingrid. I want to be sure Gretchen got home safely. She could have been waylaid just as we were. I should have called last night."
"Only to soothe your own worry; either Gretchen was home day before yesterday evening... or it's too late and she's dead."
"Richard!"
"That's what worries you, isn't it? Call Ingrid."
Gretchen answered and squealed when she saw Gwen-Ha-zei. "Mama! Come quick! It's Mistress Hardesty!"
Twenty minutes later we switched off. All that had been accomplished was to tell the Hendersons that we were at the Raffles and that our mailing address was care of Rabbi Ezra. But the ladies enjoyed visiting and each assured the other that she would come visit in person sometime soon. They exchanged kisses via terminal-to my mind a waste of technology. And of kisses.
Then we tried to call Xia... and a man came on screen whom I did not recognize; he was not Xia's day-shift desk clerk. "What do you want?" he demanded.
Hazel said, "I'd like to speak to Xia, please."
"Not here. This hotel has been shut down by the Bureau of Sanitation."
"Oh. Can you you me where she is?"
"Try the Chief of Public Safety." The face flickered off.
Hazel turned to me, her eyes filled with worry. "Richard, this can't be right. Xia's hotel is as squeaky clean as she is."
"I see a pattern," I said grimly, "and so do you. Let me ay."
I moved in, queried for code, called the office of the top cop, HKL. An elderly desk sergeant answered. I said, "Gos-pazha, I'm trying to reach a citizen named Dong Xia. I was told-"
"Yeah, I booked her," she answered. "But she made bail an hour ago. Not here."
"Ah so. Thank you, ma'am. Can you tell me where I might reach her?"
"Haven't the slightest. Sorry."
"Thank you." I switched off.
"Oh, dear!"
"Leprosy, sweetheart. We've got it; anyone who touches us
catches it. Damn."
"Richard, I'm stating the simple truth. In my childhood when this was a penal colony, there was more freedom under the Warden than there is now with self-government."
"Maybe you exaggerate but I suspect Xia would agree with you." I chewed my lip and frowned. "You know who else has caught our leprosy. Choy-Mu."
"You think so?"
"Seven to two."
"No bet. Call him."
Query showed him to be a private subscriber, so I called his home. I heard a recording, sans picture: "Marcy Choy-Mu speaking. Can't say when I'll be home but I will call in soon for messages. At me gong, please record." A gong sounded.
I thought furiously, then said, "Captain Midnight speaking. We are booked into the old Raffles. A mutual friend needs help. Please call me at the Raffles. If I am not there, please leave message telling when and where I can reach you." I
switched off again.
"Dear, you didn't give him Rabbi Ezra's code." "On purpose, Sadie giri. To keep the Rabbi's code out of Jefferson Mao's hands; Choy-Mu's line may be monitored. 1 had to give him somewhere to call back... but I can't risk compromising the Rabbi Ezra connection; we must have it for Father Schultz. Table it, beautiful; I've got to query for HKL ground control."
"Hong Kong Luna ground control. This terminal is for official business; make it brief." It was voice only.
"May I speak to Captain Marcy?"
"Not here. I'm his emergency relief. Message? Make it snappy; I've got traffic in four minutes."
(Uh-) "This is Captain Midnight. Tell him I'm at the old
Raffles. Call me."
"Don't switch off! Captain Midnight?"
"He'll know." "And so do I. He went to city hall to "put up bail for you know who. Or do you?" "XiaT
"Too right! I've got to get back to my scopes but I'll tell him. Off!"
"What now, Richard?"
"Gallop in all directions."
"Do be serious!"
"Can you think of anything better? The queue is gone from Mom's Diner; let's eat lunch."
"Eat lunch while our friends are in danger?"
"Sweetheart, even if we went back to Kongville-and thereby shoved our heads in the lion's mouth-we would have no way to find them. There is nothing we can do until Choy-Mu calls us. That might be five minutes from now, or five hours. One thing I learned in combat: Never skip a chance to eat, sleep, or pee; another chance may be a long time coming.'*