Mars (Planet) -- Fiction; Mystery fiction; Science fiction
Later, the puzzled steward departed for the dining salon to return the
steak knife which Snow had "accidentally" picked up. We sipped our
drinks in mutual silence for a minute or two, regarding one another
over the rims of our tumblers. To me, Snow was looking better by the
minute. I even had a momentary thought of flashing the Amnesty at her
to see if those red velvet lips could fulfill in a tactile way the
promise they made visually.
But instead, I said, "Tell me, do you always attack Amnesty-bearers
with the nearest weapon you can lay hold of?"
Snow laughed musically, shaking her head. "I didn't mean to come in
at full threat, Jery," she said softly. "I just wanted some sort of
defense in case--Well, Amnesty-bearers think they can ask _anything_
of a person, and--"
She left the explanation unfinished, but I found myself glad I hadn't
tried pulling rank for a fast romance. "I'm very curious to know just
what you did come in here for, Snow. Or did you just want a peep at the
Amnesty? I saw you react when Baxter let it slip back at the spaceport."
"Is that who that was? Chief Baxter, of International Security?" she
exclaimed.
I realized I was blurting things, and sighed, "Damn, I'm talking too
much."
Snow's eyes gave me the once-over, and she tilted her head to one side,
curiously. "You know, Jery, you don't look like a government official.
You seem to be just an average man."
I thought of my dossier and frowned. "Not quite average, I'm afraid. I
can be hopelessly confused by women."
Snow digested this, then shrugged. "Like I said, you seem to be just an
average man."
I laughed. "I guess I'd better explain."
I told her all about my erstwhile job at Solar Sales, and my mental
bloc regarding females. When I finished, she was fighting a grin. It
was a losing fight. The grin won.
"If I'd known that, I'd have skipped that steak knife and just entered
in a bikini," she said.
"You wouldn't have to go even that far," I told her. "One friendly wink
of your big blue eyes and I'd be putty."
Snow raised her eyebrows appraisingly. "Hmmm. I'll have to remember
that in the future." It was in fun, but I caught a tinge of serious
consideration in it. It gave me an uneasy feeling, a feeling that
brought me sharply back to my main query, from which I'd been
sidetracked a few moments before.
"But you still haven't told me why you came in here."
"To find you. I figured that if an Amnesty-bearer was on his way to
Mars, there was big trouble. And I think I know what the trouble is,
but I need some of the answers you can give me."
"What do you want with government information?" I said, trying to be
stiffly formal. "And what makes you think I'd give it to you?"
"Two reasons," she said, answering my last question first. "I can
simply wink a big blue eye--unless you've been pulling my leg--and get
all the information I desire."
"That's only one reason," I said carefully. "What else makes you think
I'd tell you the information?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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