
through to you."
Redwine shook his head. "I need to tie in to the ship's main computer."
"I'm afraid that's off-limits to our guests, Mr. Redwine."
"I don't doubt it," said Redwine patiently. "But I'm not a guest."
"I'm sorry, but I find you listed as a guest."
Redwine looked mildly amused. "Come off it. You know who I am, and you know what brought me
here."
"I just came on duty five minutes ago, Mr. Redwine," she said with impressive innocence. "However,
I'll be happy to look into the situation if you desire."
"Your loyalty is admirable, but misdirected," replied Redwine. "Sooner or later you people are going to
have to cooperate with me. In the meantime, I'm drinking valuable liquor and taking up a valuable
suite, neither of which bothers me half as much as it ought to bother you."
"I'm so glad you've already found the liquor," she said sweetly. "We always provide a bottle of a fine
Deluros blend for our guests."
"Found it?" he repeated sardonically. "I practically fell over it when I opened the door."
"I hope you didn't hurt yourself. As for your other problem, I'll do what I can, Mr. Redwine," said the
woman, showing no sign of tension or irritation. "In the meantime, I will append a list of auxiliary
entertainments to our standard listing on Channel Z." She broke the connection.
Redwine, who had expected no more initial help than he had thus far received, finished his drink, left
the parlor, and walked through the bedroom to the bathroom. He hesitated briefly until the sensor in
the low-hanging chandelier registered the heat and motion of his body and illuminated the room, then
stepped carefully around the oversized sunken marble tub and stopped in front of the sink. He held his
hands under the water tap, muttered "Cold," waited for the water to come rushing out, and rinsed his
face off. Then he returned to the parlor, poured himself another drink, and picked up one of the books
he had brought with him. He considered going to the bedroom and stretching out on the huge circular
bed, but decided that the mirrored ceiling would prove too distracting, so he sat once again on the
contour chair and began reading.
He found that he had trouble concentrating, even without being able to see the ceiling. Visions of the
holographic display kept racing through his mind: pie charts suddenly resembled breasts, tall columns
of numbers seemed strikingly phallic, and he realized after fifteen minutes had passed that he couldn't
remember a single thing he had read.
Finally he put the book aside, picked up his computerized room card, and decided to see what it could
do besides unlock the door. He placed his thumb on a colored square, and an elegant fireplace, aglow
with a roaring though heatless fire, suddenly materialized. He pressed a second square and found his
chair tingling pleasantly, then touched a third and set the entire room to rocking gently. He got to his
feet and checked out the other squares which, alone or in combination, started water flowing in the
whirlpool, activated the sauna, dimmed the lights, filled the suite with a pleasantly musky odor, piped
in a strikingly erotic symphony, dilated the door to a closet he had not previously noticed, and slid
back a section of the wall to reveal a fully-stocked wet bar.
When he had finally seen all the features that the suite had to offer, he went over the card again,
restored the rooms to their original condition, sat down, and tried once more to focus his attention on
his book. He was more successful this time, and wasn't even aware that he was no longer alone until he
heard the door slide back into the wall.
Startled, he looked up and found himself staring at a striking brunette. Her hair was piled high in the
haute couture fashion of the day, and she wore a diaphanous purple gown that had never been intended
to hide the exquisite body that lay beneath it. Her cheekbones were high, her nose small, her lips full,
her pale blue eyes slightly tilted and oddly catlike.