All at once the room was very oppressing and I wanted out. What made
me doubly angry was the fact the key was missing. I remember taking it
out, but had no idea where I had put it. The slob at the desk was slow
at answering and I was tempted to tell him just what I thought of the
service, but I refrained. There is only one permanent cure for these
types. A spare key rattled into the basket of the pneumo and I let
myself out. I needed some food and I needed some drink and most of all
I needed a quiet place for some thought.
A nearby spot provided all three--after I had chased the hookers away.
They were all dogs, and Angelina just playing a role had been better
than this entire crowd lumped together. Angelina. She was on my mind
tonight with a vengeance. The drinks warmed my gut and Angelina warmed
my memory. To think that I had actually once considered turning her in
or possibly killing her. What a waste! The only intelligent woman I had
ever run across. And all woman--I'll never forget the way she walked
in that dress. Once she had been tamed a bit--what a team we could
make! This thought was so mentally aphrodisiac that my skin burned and
I drained my glass at a single swallow.
Something had to be done; I had to find her. She would never have left
a ripe plum of a planet like this one. A girl with her ambition could
go right to the top here, nothing could stop her. And that's of course
where she would be--eventually if not now. She must spend her life
feeling damned because she was a woman, knowing she was better than the
rest of the cruds around, then proving it to herself and them over and
over again. My arrival would be the biggest favor Angelina could have.
I didn't have to prove myself better than the hicks on this rubeified
planet--just one look did that. When Angelina hooked up with me she
could stop fighting, relax and take orders. The contest would be over
for all time.
While I sat there something was nagging at me, some vital fact I had
to remember--yet couldn't. For a second I fumbled with the memory
before I realized what it was. The injection would be wearing off
soon! I had to get back to the room, quickly. There had been some fear
about the danger of this business, but I realized now that was just
my earlier cowardice. This stuff was no more dangerous than aspirin.
And at the same time it was the galaxy's greatest pick-up. New worlds
of possibilities were opening up to me, my mind was clearer and my
thoughts more logical. I wasn't going back to the old muddled-head
stuff. At the bar I paid the bartender, my fingers tapping impatiently
while he slothfully made change for me.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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