He went into the small kitchen, slid open the wall panel that concealed
the apartment's power controls, and flipped the switch from
"maintenance" to "normal." The lights came on, and there was a faint
sigh from the air conditioners as they began to move the air at a more
normal rate through the rooms.
Then he walked over to the liquor cabinet, opened it, and surveyed the
contents. There, in all their glory, sat the half dozen bottles of
English sherry that he'd been dreaming about for twelve solid months. He
took one out and broke the seal almost reverently.
Not that there had been nothing to drink for the men on Lobon: the
University had not been so blue-nosed as all that. But the choice had
been limited to bourbon and Scotch. Turnbull, who was not a whisky
drinker by choice, had longed for the mellow smoothness of Bristol Cream
Sherry instead of the smokiness of Scotch or the heavy-bodied strength
of the bourbon.
He was just pouring his first glass when the announcer chimed. Frowning,
Turnbull walked over to the viewscreen that was connected to the little
eye in the door. It showed the face of--what was his name? Samson?
Sanders. That was it, Sanders, the building superintendent.
Turnbull punched the opener and said: "Come in. I'll be right with you,
Mr. Sanders."
Sanders was a round, pleasant-faced, soft-voiced man, a good ten years
older than Turnbull himself. He was standing just inside the door as
Turnbull entered the living room; there was a small brief case in his
hand. He extended the other hand as Turnbull approached.
"Welcome home again, Dr. Turnbull," he said warmly. "We've missed you
here at the Excelsior."
Turnbull took the hand and smiled as he shook it. "Glad to be back, Mr.
Sanders; the place looks good after a year of roughing it."
The superintendent lifted the brief case. "I brought up the mail that
accumulated while you were gone. There's not much, since we sent cards
to each return address, notifying them that you were not available and
that your mail was being held until your return."
He opened the brief case and took out seven standard pneumatic mailing
tubes and handed them to Turnbull.
Turnbull glanced at them. Three of them were from various friends of his
scattered over Earth; one was from Standard Recording Company; the
remaining three carried the return address of James M. Duckworth, Ph.
Sch., U.C.L.A., Great Los Angeles, California.
"Thanks, Mr. Sanders," said Turnbull. He was wondering why the man had
brought them up so promptly after his own arrival. Surely, having waited
a year, they would have waited until they were called for.
Sanders blinked apologetically. "Uh ... Dr. Turnbull, I wonder if ... if
any of those contain money ... checks, cash, anything like that?"
"I don't know. Why?" Turnbull asked in surprise.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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