To Prime the Pump - A. Bertram Chandler [44]
Even so, the animal almost reached him, finally collapsed at his very feet.
Slowly, Grimes turned to look at the others—at the Princess, at the robot foresters, at the grinning, tongue-lolling dogs. He felt betrayed, sensed that only his own luck (rather than skill) had saved him.
Marlene stared back, her eyes and wide mouth very vivid in her pale face. Then she made a tremulous attempt at a smile.
"Third time lucky," she said. "For you."
"What do you mean?"
"That I've shot my bolt. Somebody else can do the dirty work."
"What do you mean?"
"Never mind. Let us return to the castle."
In silence they walked back out from the dark woods.
Chapter 21
They lay, supine and naked, on the velvet grass of the lawn that surrounded the swimming pool, soaking up the warmth and the radiation of the afternoon sun. Grimes raised himself on his shoulders, looked at the perfect body of the girl. He thought, Yes, you may look, but you mustn't touch. And he wanted to touch, badly. Hastily he turned over onto his belly.
"What's bothering you, John?" she asked, her voice lazy.
Can't you see? he did not dare to say. Instead, extemporizing, he said, "I'm still puzzled by what you said. After I killed the boar."
"What did I say?"
"Something about third time lucky. And about somebody else having to do the dirty work." He was silent for a little. "And, tell me, was the first time when I brought the dynosoar in to a landing? And was the second time when we had the difference of opinion with the rock ogre?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, John. I can't remember saying anything about third time lucky."
"Can't you?"
"No. You must have imagined it. You were rather badly shaken up." There was a touch of scorn in her voice. "Still, I suppose that it was the first time that you'd ever killed anything at short range."
"Never mind that. Here's another point. I gained the impression that your precious Fritz and Fredrik weren't busting their tin guts to get me out of the jam."
"You hardly gave them time, did you? Also, they are not supposed to intervene until the last possible" moment. It's like . . . how shall I put it? It's like the amusement parks you have on most of the overcrowded planets. There are those affairs called . . . roller coasters? Big Dippers? Anyhow, they give their passengers the illusion of danger. We work on the same principle."
"So El Dorado is just one huge amusement park for the very rich?"
She laughed, but without warmth. "You could put it that way." She got up slowly, walked to the battlements. Grimes watched the play of the muscles under her smooth skin, the sway of her round buttocks. Yes, he thought, a huge amusement park, with swimming pools on the roofs of Gothic castles, and the illusion of danger when you want it (and when you don't) and the illusion of glamorous sex. The real thing isn't for snotty-nosed ragamuffins from the wrong side of the tracks.
She turned to face him. The sun was full on her. She was all golden, the slender length of her, save for the touches of contrasting color that were her eyes, her mouth, her taut nipples and the enameled nails of her fingers and toes.
She said, "You aren't happy here, John." There was regret in her voice.
He said, looking at her, "You're a marvellous hostess. But . . . But I can't help feeling an outsider."
"But you are," she stated simply. "All of you, from your almighty Captain down to the lowest rating, are. We can fraternise with you all, but only within limits."
"And who lays down those limits? Your precious Monitor?" She was" shocked. "Of course not. We know what those limits are. Normally we just do not mix with those who are not our kind of people. But, as we called your ship in, we realize that we are under an obligation. In your case I am trying to make up for the trouble I got you into from the very start."
"And ever