The Return of Santiago: A Myth of the Far Future (24 page)

      
"Not just yet," said Dante as they floated up to the hotel's lobby.

      
"Why not?"

      
"Matilda sounds more than impressed with the One-Armed Bandit," said Dante. "She sounds half in love. It may be coloring her judgment, so I want you to nose around and see what other people have to say about him. And find out where he's staying, if you can, just in case I want to speak to him alone."

      
"You might have told me before the fucking vehicle left," muttered Virgil.

      
"Yeah," agreed Dante. "But then you'd be so fresh and full of energy that you wouldn't do what I asked until you'd bedded half a dozen men and women and probably tried to make it with the robot chauffeur as well."

      
Virgil frowned. "I think I liked you better when you were an innocent."

      
"I was never an innocent," the poet corrected him. "I just didn't know you as well as I do now."

      
"Comes to the same thing," grumbled Virgil, walking through the airlock as Dante went up to the desk to register.

      
"Mr. Alighieri, right," said the clerk. "Two rooms?"

      
"That's correct." He paused. "Do you have any rules about visitors in your rooms?"

      
"No."

      
Dante tossed a 20-credit cube on the desk. "Tell my friend you do."

      
"Yes, sir, Mr. Alighieri," said the clerk, pocketing the cube. "Will there be anything else?"

      
"You're got a guest named Matilda. I'd like to know what room she's in."

      
"That's against the regulations, sir."

      
Dante tossed another 20-credit cube on the desk. "She's expecting me."

      
"What is her last name?" asked the clerk, pocketing the cube.

      
Dante frowned. "I'll be damned if I know," he admitted.

      
"I don't know how I can help you, then, Mr. Alighieri."

      
"Check your guest list for a single name: Matilda. If she didn't give her last name to me, she sure as hell wouldn't give it to you."

      
The clerk checked his computer, then looked up, surprised. "She's in 307."

      
"Let her know I'm on my way up," said Dante, walking to the airlift. He got off at the third floor, followed the glowing numbers that seemed to float a few inches in front of each door, and stopped when he came to 307. He was about to knock when it slid away from him.

      
"Come in," said Matilda, sitting on a chair by the window.

      
"Thanks."

      
"Did you have a good trip?"

      
"That depends."

      
"On what?"

      
"On whether you've found our Santiago."

      
"I think I have," she replied.

      
"I've heard of him here and there," said Dante. "I thought he was an outlaw."

      
"His name," she said, nodding.

      
"So you're saying he's
not
a bandit?"

      
"He's been an outlaw," she answered. "He's not one right now."

      
"What's he doing on Heliopolis II?"

      
"Providing protection to the miners."

      
"If these mines are so damned valuable, why doesn't the Democracy protect them?"

      
"Because he's better at it."

      
"Than a whole regiment?"

      
"Probably. And he's very reasonable." She smiled. "He charges them one diamond per Unicorn."

      
"Let me get this straight," said Dante. "He kills Unicorns and gets a diamond apiece?"

      
"Yes."

      
"That's very much like murder, isn't it?"

      
"He only kills those who attack or harass miners or other humans," she said.

      
"From what I understand, that could be a lifetime's work," remarked Dante. "What makes you think he'd quit to become Santiago?"

      
"Have you been outside yet?" asked Matilda.

      
"No."

      
She smiled. "Go outside for half an hour and then ask me that question."

      
"Point taken," he conceded.

      
"He's a wonderful man," said Matilda. "Just the kind of man Santiago should be."

      
"So when do I get to meet him?"

      
"Well, I was hoping we could have a drink right now—I knew you were due in early afternoon—but the Unicorns killed a miner this morning, and he's out there making sure they think twice before they do it again." She paused. "I don't know how he puts up with the conditions. I can barely walk a block. He goes for miles, and fights at the end of it."

      
"He's a formidable man."

      
"And at the same time he's the gentlest, best-mannered man I've come across on the Frontier," she enthused. "It's hard to believe those manners can go with those accomplishments."

      
Dante stared at her, trying to assess just how much her emotions had influenced her. She stared back, and it was as if she could read his mind.

      
"It has nothing to do with my feelings for him," she assured him.

      
"I didn't say that."

      
"But you were thinking it."

      
"I was wondering how detached your judgment was. There's a difference."

      
"He should be back before dark," said Matilda. "We'll meet him for dinner and you can make up your own mind."

      
"Fair enough." He walked to the door. "I might as well take a nap until then."

      
"Where's Virgil?" she asked. "Didn't he come with you?"

      
"He's out enjoying the climate."

      
"Good God, why?"

      
"There were a couple of things I wanted him to do." He grimaced. "I just hope he does them before he makes a pass at a Unicorn."

      
"You told me how you hooked up with him," said Matilda. "But for the life of me, I can't understand why you let him stay with you. You may have needed him the first few days you were on the Frontier, but surely you don't need him any longer."

      
"That's true."

      
"Well, then?"

      
"When we find our Santiago, he's going to need all the help he can get. Including Virgil."

      
"What makes you think he'll obey Santiago's orders?"

      
"He obeys
me
, and I'm no Santiago," answered Dante. "He needs an authority figure."

      
"He needs to be castrated and lobotomized!" said Matilda passionately.

      
"Well, that too," agreed Dante with a smile.

      
"He makes my skin crawl."

      
"He'll leave you alone."

      
"What makes you think so?"

      
"I told him to."

      
"And that will make him leave me alone?" she said dubiously.

      
"I told you: he obeys me."

      
"Why?" persisted Matilda.

      
Dante shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe he's really hung up on this Virgil/Dante thing. Or maybe he just wants a couple of more verses in my poem."

      
"Wait'll you meet the Bandit!" she said, her enthusiasm returning. "You'll give him a dozen verses!"

      
"I already wrote one," said Dante.

      
"May I see it?"

      
"Not until I've met him. I wrote it based on your messages. I may want to change it."

      
"You won't," she said with absolute certainty.

      
"I hope you're right," he said, walking to the door, then turned back to face her.

      
"But?" said Matilda. "There's an unspoken 'But' there."

      
"But I can't believe finding Santiago will be this easy."

      
He walked to the airlift, went up to the fifth floor, found his room, notified the desk that the robot bellhop had mixed his luggage up with Virgil's, waited a few moments until the problem was sorted out, and then lay back on the bed. It seemed that he had just closed his eyes when the desk clerk called him to tell him that Matilda was waiting for him in the lobby.

      
He got to his feet, walked to the sink, muttered "cold", and rinsed his face off. He considered changing clothes, but he didn't have anything better than he was wearing, so he left the room and took the airlift down to the lobby.

      
"Is he here?" asked Dante he approached Matilda.

      
"We're meeting him at the Golden Bough," answered Matilda. "It's a restaurant three blocks from here."

      
"From everything I've heard about this world, it ought to be the Diamond Bough." He stopped by the desk. "Has my friend checked in yet?"

      
"Virgil Soaring Hawk?" responded the clerk. "No, Mr. Alighieri."

      
"Thank you." Dante escorted Matilda to the airlock. "Well, either he's dead or he's shacking up with a Unicorn. We'll find out which tomorrow."

      
They emerged from the hotel, and he noticed that the gravity had become much heavier.

      
"I hadn't realized just how much the Tamerlaine had spent to approximate Standard gravity," he remarked. "Why don't we ride instead of walking?"

      
"The Democracy gets 50% of the take from the vehicles that go to and from the spaceport," she explained. "They want the same from city transportation, and so far no one's been willing to give it to them. A couple of men set up a taxi business a couple of years ago; the Democracy came in and turned their vehicles to rubble. I think they killed one of the men, too. Anyway, since then, we walk. It's reached the point where the miners are proud of being able to cope with the climate and the gravity."

      
"Every goddamned Frontier world I've been to has a story like that," said Dante. "I hope to hell you've found our man." He grimaced. "Damn! It feels like each foot weighs 50 pounds."

      
"I don't mind the gravity as much as the thin air," she said.

      
"I don't think I'm especially enamored of the temperature, either," he added.

      
"It's much better now. Before sundown it's a lot hotter."

      
"And the Bandit fights Unicorns out here?"

      
"That's right."

      
"Well, he's Santiago or he's crazy," said Dante. "I vote for the latter."

      
"The conditions don't seem to bother him," said Matilda. "He's not like us."

      
"I'll vouch for that. Let's step it up a little and get out of this goddamned heat and gravity."

      
She locked her arm in his and gently restrained him. "You don't want to exert yourself in this thin air. You could black out before we reach the restaurant."

      
Dante slowed down and didn't admit that he was just a bit dizzy. "And he chases Unicorns up and down those hills! Amazing!"

      
"Don't keep talking," she instructed him. "Save your strength until we're inside the restaurant."

      
His limbs felt heavier with each step, and he fell silent and walked at her pace. The blocks seemed longer than they were on most Frontier worlds, but that could simply have been because he wanted them to be shorter.

      
Finally they came to the Golden Bough, and he gratefully entered the airlock with her. His lungs filled with oxygen, and the temperature dropped until it was comfortable if not cool—but his arms and legs still felt like the floor was tugging at them.

      
"There's no artificial gravity in here," Matilda noted. "I suppose it must cost too much for anything smaller than a hotel."

      
"Remind me not to order a souffle," he replied wryly.

      
They were escorted to an empty table by the robotic headwaiter.

      
"So where's the Bandit?" asked Dante as they sat down.

      
"He'll be here."

      
"Yeah, I don't suppose you can kill Unicorns by the clock." He touched a small screen and summoned a waiter.

      
"How may I help you, sir?" asked the robot in a grating monotone.

      
"I'd like a beer. A very cold one." He turned to Matilda. "How about you?"

      
"Make it two," she told the robot.

      
"Would you care to order?" asked the waiter.

      
"No, we're waiting for a friend to join us."

      
The waiter walked to the bar, returning a moment later with their beers.

      
"You could work up one hell of a thirst walking around this town," commented Dante. He took a long swallow, closed his eyes, and sighed. "God, that's good! I don't think I ever appreciated beer before this evening."

      
"You'll find you need twice as many fluids as usual if you're going to spend any time outside," said Matilda.