‘When do you suppose they’ll start putting lifts in these buildings,’ Jamieson complained. ‘I’ve done nothing in this city yet but climb stairs. They’ve got Clarin and me in dormitories five flights up.’
‘They’ll put in lifts when lift mechanisms are defined as essential,’ Tasmin said indifferently. He had been given a pleasant suite on the second floor of the citadel, overlooking a walled garden. ‘Or when there gets to be enough demand to fabricate them locally. Right now, it takes tenth place behind a lot of other needed supplies like medical equipment and farm machinery and computers. There’s the office.’
The name was painted in lopsided letters on a raw, new door. Inside they found the tenant crouched on the floor, trying to assemble a desk. He was a short, plump man with a polished pink face that gleamed with sweat and annoyance as he tried to fit a part into a slot that obviously would not hold it. ‘Larry Porsent,’ he introduced himself, clambering to his feet with some difficulty. ‘What can I do for you.’
‘I’m Tasmin Ferrence.’
‘Yes.’ There was no indication the man recognized the name.
‘I’m Lim Terree’s brother.’
The man scowled. ‘I’ll be damned. Really? I didn’t know he had a brother. Didn’t know he had any kin at all. Except his wife, of course, and the kid.’
‘Wife!’
‘Well, sure. You mean you didn’t know? Well, of course you didn’t know or you wouldn’t be surprised, right. I’m kind of slow on the launch today. Not my day. Not my season, if you want the truth. Perigee time. Lim’s death just about finished me off.’
‘He was a major client?’
‘He was damn near my only client. He wanted all my time, and I gave it to him. Would’ve worked out fine, too, if he hadn’t gone crazy. I mean, since you’re his brother and kin and all – these your kids? Nice lookin’ kids. Why in the name of good sense would a man take every credit he’s saved up in ten years and spend everything he’s got settin’ up a tour of the dirt towns! You can’t make that pay. Everybody knows you can’t make it pay. I told him. I told his wife, Vivian, and she told him.’ He ran both hands through his thinning hair, then thrust them out as though to beg understanding. ‘Why would a man do that?’
‘You mean, the tour to Deepsoil Five wasn’t a financial success?’
‘Hell, man, no tour to the dirt towns is a financial success! They’re always a dead loss. Only time we do ’em, ever, is if BDL banks ’em for us. I mean, any of us, any agent, any performer. BDL pays it out every now and then, just for the goodwill, but there’s no audience there. How much can you make, stacked up against what it costs to get there?’
Jamieson asked, ‘You’re telling us that Lim Terree used his own money to pay for the trip?’
‘Everything he had. Down to the house and his kid’s savings fund. And since you’re his brother, I can show you a few bills that didn’t get paid if you’re interested in clearing his good name.’
Tasmin shook his head, dizzied by this spate of unexpected information. ‘Lim had a very expensive comp on his wrist when I saw him last.’
‘He did, indeed. And I wish I had it now. That was a gift, that was. Guess who from? Honeypeach herself. The Governor’s lady.’ He spat the word. ‘Poor old Lim couldn’t sell it or he was dead. He couldn’t lose it or he was dead. All he could do was wear it and try to stay out of her bed. People that upset Honeypeach end up buried. She’s a crystal-rat, that one. Teeth like a Jammling, and she wanted to eat him.’
‘Terree’s wife,’ Clarin said, sympathetically aware of Tasmin’s confusion. ‘Where would we find her?’
‘You’ll find her at home, such as it is, over the fish market, down at the south end. Or you’ll find her in the market, guttin’ and scalin’. She and the kid have to eat, and Lim sure left her without the wherewithal. She left a registered job with the Exploration records office to have Lim’s kid, and they sure won’t take her back….’
‘I may have some other questions,’ Tasmin said, shaking his head. ‘Right now I’m too confused by all this to know. We can find you here daytimes?’
‘If I can make it through the next few days, you can. I’ve got a few comers lined up. One of ’em’s bound to break orbit. None of ’em are Lim Terree, though, I’ll tell you that. He was a genius. A damned genius. He could do more with a music box than any other three people. If you find out what made him crazy, I wish you’d let me know.’ He dropped to his knees and began working on the assembly once more, oblivious to their departure.
In the car there was a careful silence. Tasmin was trying to fit what he had just learned into the structure he had postulated, and it did not fit. A penniless Lim Terree. A man who had told the truth when he said he hadn’t the funds to help Tasmin with their mother’s needs. Why?
‘Do you know where the fish market is, Reb?’
The boy flushed with pleasure. Tasmin seldom addressed him by his sobriquet. ‘Clarin and I studied the city map for a while. I think I can find it.’
He did find it, after several false turns, although finding a place to put the car was another thing. The market was long and narrow, extending across the length of the fish farms and the fleet moorings. The wares on display included both native and farmed out-system fish, finned and shelled and naked skinned. Though Jubal had a paucity of land life – a few small animals like viggies,
