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.She isdangerous, you know.""I realize that.But I can't believe she can't be handled.""Neither can I." She glanced at her watch."Tell you what, you come with us on a little trip."Bach protested at first, but Galloway would not be denied, and Bach's resistance was at a low ebb.By speedboat, trolley, and airplane they quickly made their way on the top of Mozartplatz, whereBach found herself in a four-seat PTP or point-to-point ballistic vehicle.She had never ridden in a PTP.They were rare, mostly because they wasted a lot of energy for onlya few minutes' gain in travel time.Most people took the tubes, which reached speeds of threethousand miles per hour, hovering inches above their induction rails in Luna's excellent vacuum.But for a celebrity like Galloway, the PTP made sense.She had trouble going places in publicfile:///G|/rah/John%20Varley%20-%20Blue%20Champagne.htm (114 of 255) [2/17/2004 10:34:59 AM]Blue Champagnewithout getting mobbed.And she certainly had the money to spare.There was a heavy initial acceleration, then weightlessness.Bach had never liked it, and enjoyed iteven less with a few drinks in her.Little was said during the short journey.Bach had not asked where they were going, and Gallowaydid not volunteer it.Bach looked out one of the wide windows at the fleeting moonscape.As she counted the valleys, rilles, and craters flowing past beneath her, she soon realized herdestination.It was a distant valley, in the sense that no tube track ran through it.In a little over anhour.Tango Charlie would come speeding through, no more than a hundred meters from the surface.The PTP landed itself in a cluster of transparent, temporary domes.There were over a hundred ofthem, and more PTP's than Bach had ever seen before.She decided most of the people in and aroundthe domes fell into three categories.There were the very wealthy, owners of private spacecraft, whohad erected most of these portable Xanadus and filled them with their friends.There were civicdignitaries in city-owned domes.And there were the news media.This last category was there in its teeming hundreds.It was not what they would call a big story, butit was a very visual one.It should yield spectacular pictures for the evening news.A long, wide black stripe had been created across the sundrenched plain, indicating the path TangoCharlie would take.Many cameras and quite a few knots of pressure-suited spectators were situatedsmack in the middle of that line, with many more off to one side, to get an angle on the approach.Beyond it were about a hundred large glass-roofed touring buses and a motley assortment of privatecrawlers, sunskimmers, jetsleds, and even some hikers: the common people, come to see the event.Bach followed along behind the uncommon people: Galloway, thin and somehow spectral in thetranslucent suit, leaning on her crystal cane; the Myers twins, whose amparolee arms would not fit inthe suits, so that the empty sleeves stuck out, bloated, like crucified ghosts; and most singular of all,the wire-sculpture arm units themselves, walking independently, on their fingertips, looking likesome demented, disjointed mechanical camel as they lurched through the dust.They entered the largest of the domes, set on the edge of the gathering nearest the black line, whichput it no more than a hundred meters from the expected passage.The first person Bach saw, as she was removing her helmet, was Hoeffer.He did not see her immediately.He, and many of the other people in the dome, were watchingGalloway.So she saw his face as his gaze moved from the celebrity to Joy and Jay.and sawamazement and horror, far too strong to be simple surprise at their weirdness.It was a look ofrecognition.Galloway had said she had an excellent source.She noticed Bach's interest, smiled, and nodded slightly.Still struggling to remove her suit, shefile:///G|/rah/John%20Varley%20-%20Blue%20Champagne.htm (115 of 255) [2/17/2004 10:34:59 AM]Blue Champagneapproached Bach."That's right.The twins heard a rumor something interesting might be going on at NavTrack, so theyfound your commander.Turns out he has rather odd sexual tastes, though it's probably fairlypedestrian to Joy and Jay.They scratched his itch, and he spilled everything.""I find that.rather interesting," Bach admitted."I thought you would.Were you planning to make a career out of being a R/A in NavigationalTracking?""That wasn't my intention.""I didn't think so.Listen, don't touch it.I can handle it without there being any chance of itbackfiring on you.Within the week you'll be promoted out of there.""I don't know if.""If what?" Galloway was looking at her narrowly.Bach hesitated only a moment."I may be stiff-necked, but I'm not a fool.Thank you."Galloway turned away a little awkwardly, then resumed struggling with her suit.Bach was about tooffer some help, when Galloway frowned at her."How come you're not taking off your pressure suit?""That dome up there is pretty strong, but it's only one layer.Look around you.Most of the nativeshave just removed their helmets, and a lot are carrying those around.Most of the Earthlings are outof their suits.They don't understand vacuum.""You're saying it's not safe?""No.But vacuum doesn't forgive.It's trying to kill you all the time."Galloway looked dubious, but stopped trying to remove her suit.Bach wandered the electronic wonderland, helmet in hand.Tango Charlie would not be visible until less than a minute before the close encounter, and thenwould be hard to spot as it would be only a few seconds of arc above the horizon line.But therewere cameras hundreds of miles downtrack which could already see it, both as a bright star, movingvisibly against the background, and as a jittery image in some very long lenses.Bach watched as thewheel filled one screen until she could actually see furniture behind one of the windows.file:///G|/rah/John%20Varley%20-%20Blue%20Champagne [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]