Flatlander - Larry Niven [124]
“Maybe lunies tend to know each other better than flatlanders do. Smaller population. Smaller cities. And there is such a thing as telepathy.” And Laura had been smiling and sparkling as we had left her apartment that morning. Someone might have noticed.
“What is it you want to know? Should you resume your relationship with Dr. Grimes? Did you think you needed my permission?”
“I think there are five lunies I don’t want to offend,” I said. “You and four committee delegates from four lunar cities. If you and I are now supposed to be monogamous, I want to know it. I came to the moon largely because Taffy was here. Should I now stop seeing Taffy in private? Or at all? Come on, give me some help. If the committee is too busy fighting to make decisions, everybody loses.”
She screwed her eyes almost shut. “This is all new to me. Let me think.” Pause. “I want you for myself. Is that immoral?”
“Depends on where you are. Silly but true. I am flattered.”
“All right. Stop seeing her in public.” By now she was on her feet and pacing like a tiger. “Even in the halls. In private, make sure it’s private. No phone calls. No room service breakfast for two.”
“Taffy’s gone to Marxgrad.”
“What?”
“She’s got her own career to pursue. Now she’s pursued it to the back of the moon. But I had to know these things for future reference, Laura. Are you angry?”
She looked at me. She turned to the door. I said, “Remember, I’m likely to believe anything you tell me. Call me ignorant. Are you angry? Shall we avoid each other from now on?”
She turned back. “I’m angry. I made the same mistake anyone else would have. I want you back in my bed as soon as I get over this!” She swung around to the door and back again. Hesitated. Finally she dropped back on the bed just behind my shoulder.
It wasn’t me that had stopped her, I think. It was the display.
NAKF
NARF NAKE NARE MAKF MAKE MARE WAKF
WAKE WARE
NAKF NAOMI
NAKF WATS
NAKED SNAKE SNARE WAKEN
“See anything?”
“Beware?”
I said, “He’d have to add on at both ends.”
“That applies to Ms and Ws, too. Oh, I see. If he missed a stroke right at the beginning—”
“Yeah. Do lunies tend to put nudes in their torso paintings?”
“No.”
“Do lunies use any kind of vehicle with a lot of glass in it? A full bubble cockpit? Do the Belters at the trading post?”
“I don’t think so. Why?”
“NAKED. And now I’m stuck. Futz. Maybe he was trying to describe a torso painting.”
Laura said, “He must have got away from the killer. Maybe he ducked into the shadows and tied a tourniquet and kept going. Otherwise it’s too easy for the killer. A second swipe with the laser cuts him in half.”
“Maybe. What’s your point?”
“He knew he’d die when he took the tourniquet off. He would have thought it through in detail before he wrote any message.” She studied the screen. She reached past me and typed:
NaKF
“Chemistry. Sodium, potassium, flourine.”
“What does it mean? What do you do with those three elements?”
“I don’t know. Gil—”
The door announcer said, “Room service.”
Laura yelped. In an instant she was behind the door, flattened against the wall. I stared. Then I went to the door, called it open, stepped into the hall, took the tray, said, “Thank you. Good night,” and closed the door in the bemused waiter’s face.
Laura exhaled.
I was trying not to laugh. I took a huge bite out of a sandwich and spoke around it. “I need a bath almost as much as I need food. I’m hoping you’ll stay; I’m just telling you.”
“I’ll do your back,” Laura said.
“Good.”
11. THE EMPTY ROOM
I was half-awake. My mind, idling in neutral, played word games.
NAKF LAURA DRURY DESK COP NAKF
I couldn’t make it fit.
Laura’s foot was hooked under mine. When she tried to turn over, I came fully awake. I worked my foot free, and she rolled just to the edge of the bed.
NAKF … DRURY … what the hell was I doing?
Properly horrified, I pushed the whole topic way down to the bottom of my mind and left it there. But I couldn’t get back to sleep.