For Texas and Zed

land and the time was good enough to win his heat.

He leaned on the fence next to Billy Bob. 'You, an, been to bed with her?'

'A gentleman don't answer questions like that,' Lex said, looking skyward.

'I been into Miss Toni's,' Billy Bob said.

'You ain't a man until you have,' Lex said.

'Who'd you get when you went?'

'Girl named Pitty.'

'Tall, blond?'

'The same.'

'Hot damn. I got her, too.' 'They say she specializes in first-timers,' Lex said. 'God, what a set,' Billy Bob breathed, the memory making him squirm. 'Billy Bob Blink next in the chute,' the announcer said. Billy Bob was so shook thinking of Miss Pitty

and her set that he let his wangling take a lead and lost three full seconds and then it was over and Lex had his ribbon and a few brews and then he buttoned up the hood and blinked home and in the gathering darkness the skies began to take on their blackness and the lone star of the globular cluster out there in the big lonesome was low and the galaxy hadn't risen yet. Then he began to think and what he thought he didn't like. He thought about the scene at the spaceport when theTexas Queen came down, all the big wigs there to meet her, although the news of the successful trip had been blinkstatted ahead of them. They weren't there to greet the heroes returned from the Empire, but to see the girl Murichon Burns's boy had stolen, right under the noses of the Empire on Polaris Two.

He remembered how she looked, dressed like a decent Texas woman in real cloth, her legs extending out from the short skirt, her hair flowing down over her shoulders, her head held high. And he remembered what she'd said.

'I demand,' she said imperiously, 'that these ruffians be arrested at once.' 'Well,' said President Andy Gar, 'we'll talk about that.' 'Under the laws of the Empire,' she said. 'This ain't Empire,' the President had said, quickly. 'But there must be civilized men here.' 'Well,' said Murichon Burns, 'I reckon we're civilized enough to suit us. Civilized enough, at any rate, to

send you back on the meat fleet, but that'll be a wait, ma'am, since it takes time to slaughter and freeze.' 'Meanwhile, ma'am,' Lex said, 'why don't you stay at our town house? We got plenty of room.' 'I would not be caught dead under the same roof with you,' she said. 'We're sorta short on guest facilities,' President Gar said. 'And Murichon's house is comfortable. But if

you don't want to be around the boy I reckon we can find something. Might put you up at Miss Toni's place.' This brought a general chuckle and roused Gwyn's suspicions. 'And who is Miss Toni?' 'Well, it's sorta hard to explain,' Lex said. 'But it's where we, I mean we young ones, go—'

'A whorehouse,' Gwyn said. 'Not exactly,' President Gar said. 'We prefer to call it a place of professional entertainment.' Miss Toni, who was over sixty, was Gar's cousin.

'We'll put the boy out in the garage,' Murichon said.

And that's the way it had been. He saw her, that night, at table. She was displaying some curiosity about the planet and Murichon was answering questions carefully. He'd had her in isolation during the last part of the trip and what she could see in the skies wouldn't tell her much. It would tell her more than he wanted her to know, that Texas was an outplanet, distant from the disc of the galaxy, and relatively near a globular cluster, near enough for the cluster to make one huge star in the nighttime skies. However, after discussing it with the others, they'd decided that those were not enough clues to give away the exact location of the planet. At any rate, the only alternative to risking giving a clue was to keep the Lady on Texas and Murichon wasn't sure the planet could stand such a test. He'd seen her in action against his son. She was, he thought admiringly, quite a woman.

Lex tried to get into the conversation at table but every time he spoke she cut him dead and ignored his comments. She even turned down an offer to be taught airors riding and that was his hole card.

While he sat outside atmosphere, buttoned up in the hood of theZelda , cold space empty around him, he called and used voice to say, 'I'm home, Dad,' hit the button and blinked into the garage. There was warmed-over soup and wingling stew and he ate alone, in the kitchen. He was feeling so lonely he had the cook robot go over menus just to hear a voice. Then he went to his room over the garage and turned on the circular music station from Dallas central and let the twangy sound of strings soak into his hide, killing a brew before going in for a shower.

Hell, he was going to marry the girl. What more did she expect?

'I am an appointed representative of the Emperor himself,' she'd told President Gar. 'I shall report my ill treatment to the Emperor personally.'

'Well,' President Gar said, 'give the old boy my regards.'

He was dressed and ready for—what? Dressed up and no place to go. Early evening. Just across the courtyard was—heaven in scents and feels and softness and long hair and supple legs and clinging arms. How could she change so quickly? She'd loved him there on Polaris Two. How could she have done the things she did with him without love? She wasn't like Miss Toni's girls, who had chosen to even the inbalance of the sexes on Texas by being all things to all men. Hell, she wasn't like that. So she had to have loved him and then, when he did what any man would do, steal away the girl he loved, she'd turned into a spitting, scratching female farl, half-tiger and half- shrew.

He was feeling quite sorry for himself when the communicator came to life and his father's voice requested his body in the house. A request from Murichon was not merely an order, it was the law, and, besides, it was something to do. He walked across and noted that there were a couple of strange airorses outside and an official arc with the great seal on the side. He went into the living room looking around forher . She wasn't there, but old Andy Gar was, along with the head man of the Meat Growers Association, a couple of Ranger officers of high rank and his father.

'Sit down, boy,' Murichon said. He was dead serious, grim as being stranded in the middle of the great desert without water. Lex sat. He glanced out of the corner of his eye toward the Ranger General with his tan and gold braid and wondered how he'd look in uniform.

'I'm gonna give it to you straight and slow, son,' Murichon said. 'First off, it appears that you've snatched a red-hot coal right out of the Emperor's own fire and it might burn your fingers. Your little gal with the spitfire temper is the Emperor's own cousin, and, in all probability, one of his favorite bedmates, judging from the fuss they're making about the Lady Gwyn.'

'The Empire demands,' began the Ranger General, but Murichon held up his hand and the General lapsed into silence.

'He's just a boy and he's got a decision to make,' Andy Gar said. 'Let's make sure he understands the situation.'

'You know we've been in blinkstat communication with the First Leader on Polaris,' Murichon said. Lex nodded. He knew the setup. At random times a Texican ship, blinking random patterns within range of an Empire blink relay, would contact and wait just long enough to receive a message in return. The details of the meat shipment were being worked out that way, after the Empire had swallowed its pride in order to be able to swallow good, juicy Texas steak. 'Well, the first message about your gal was just a polite inquiry about her, wondering if we had any idea where she was. That was a couple of days ago. The next one wasn't so polite. They told us flatly that you'd been seen carrying a suspicious-looking sack onto the Texas Queen . Now I suppose we should have just flat out lied about it at that point, but you know I don't cotton to lying without reason, and I was looking on this Lady Gwyn as just another Empire gal, a little more advanced in position than most, but just another gal in a system which has billions of girls. I was wrong. I admitted that one of the crewmen had taken a fancy to her and had lifted her to be his wife. I was lying just a little, because I guess that was your intention.'

'It was,' Lex said.

'Well,' Murichon said, 'I should have lied more.' He tilted his glass and drained it. He looked at his son and there was a deep wrinkle between his eyes he was looking so hard. 'Son, they say either we turn over the kidnapper and the Lady in good condition or the meat deal is off.'

Lex's face did not change, but he felt cold winds blow inside. He had an instant flashback to the day, the wild ride over the desert, the wide plains, the sun over Texas. 'Well then, I reckon I'll have to go,' he said.

Andy Gar cleared his throat. 'Son, do you remember when that prospector, got picked up in Cassiopeian space