Heechee rendezvous by Frederik Pohl Read Free Book Online Page A

worried, actually, because it made no sense! Wan was surely not good-looking. Or good-tempered. Of course, he was rich, and also a lot closer to
    Dolly’s age
    “Oh, honey, don’t be jealous,” Dolly said in her own voice, sounding if anything pleased-which somewhat reassured Walthers. “He’s going to go pretty soon anyway, you know. He doesn’t want to be here when the transport gets in, and right now he’s off ordering supplies for his next trip. That’s the only reason he came here.” She raised the puppeted hand again, and the childish kitten voice sang, “Junior’s jealous of Vollee!”
    “I am not,” he said instinctively, and then admitted, “I am. Don’t hold it against me, Doll.”
    She moved in the bed until her lips were near his ear, and he felt her soft breath, lisping in the kitten voice, “I promise I won’t, Mr. Junior, but I’d be awful glad if you would ...” And as reconciliations went, it went very well; except that right in the middle of Round Four it was zapped by the snarling ring of the piezophone.
    Walthers let it ring fifteen times, long enough to complete the task in progress, though not nearly as well as he had intended. When he answered the phone it was the duty officer from the airport. “Did I call you at a bad time, Walthers?”
    “Just tell me what you want,” said Walthers, trying not to show that he was still breathing hard.
    “Well, rise and shine, Audee. There’s a party of six down with scurvy, Grid Seven Three Poppa, coordinates a little fuzzy but they’ve got a radio beacon. That’s all they’ve got. You’re flying them a doctor, a dentist, and about a ton of vitamin C to arrive at first light. Which means you take off in ninety minutes tops.”
    “Ah, hell, Carey! Can’t it wait?”
    “Only if you want them DOA. They’re real bad. The shepherd that found them says there’s two of them he don’t think will make it anyway.”
    Walthers swore to himself, looked apologetically at Dolly, and then reluctantly began getting his gear together.
    When Dolly spoke the voice was not a kitten’s anymore. “Junior? Can’t we go back home?”
    “This is home,” he said, trying to make it light.
    “Please, Junior?” The relaxed face had tightened up, and the ivory mask was impassive, but he could hear the strain in her voice.
    “Dolly, love,” he said, “there’s nothing there for us. Remember? That’s why people like us come here. Now we’ve got a whole new planet why, this city by itself is going to be bigger than Tokyo, newer than New York; they’re going to have six new transports in a couple of years, you know, and a Lofstrom loop instead of these shuttles-“
    “But when? When I’m old?”
    There might not have been a justifiable reason for the misery in her voice, but the misery was there all the same. Walthers swallowed, took a deep breath, and tried his joking best. “Sweet-pants,” he said, “you won’t be old even when you’re ninety.” No response. “Aw, but, honey,” he cajoled, “it’s bound to get better! They’re sure to start a food factory out in our Oort pretty soon. It might even be next year! And they as much as promised me a piloting job for the construction-“
    “Oh, fine! So then you’ll be away a year at a time instead of just a month. And I’ll be stuck in this dump, without even any decent programs to talk to.”
    “They’ll have programs-“
    “I’ll be dead first!”
    He was wide awake now, the joys of the night worn away. He said, “Look. If you don’t like it here we don’t have to stay. There’s more on Peggy’s than Port Hegramet. We can go out into the back country, clear some land, build a house-“
    “Raise strong sons, found a dynasty?” Her voice was scornful.
    “Well ... something like that, I guess.”
    She turned over in the bed. “Take your shower,” she advised. “You smell like fucking.”
    And while Audee Walthers, Jr., was in the shower, a creature that looked quite unlike any