Chapter 19: Arrival, Part 2

Mica slid off his chair and joined me on my bench. Again he looked into my eyes. He sought my lips, kissed me. His hand unfastened the dablouse the rest of the way. I couldn't help bending over and kissing his penis inside his slickpants and I stroked it with my hand.

Mica's breath was hot on my breasts. His hand reached under my white dress where I was bare. His fingertips touched that slit there and discovered how wet it had become.

I have never, ever had an evening like last night. I can't describe it so I won't! And why would I anyway?

I'm glad Olive likes good food. Our breakfast was simple and fabulous. The gofee she made was dark, fresh, strong. Maybe she'll make it for Ronnie; he'd go mad. I had two cups and was working on a third when she said, "What did you think of Garner yesterday?"

"Really, it was so new, I was overwhelmed and it sort of ran together, the pieces did. I do remember talking to a man on the trickle coming over here. And he looked at me as if I had insulted him. All I said was "How does the bus know where to go?"

"And, of course you didn't use an honorific?"

"What kind of honorific, sweetness, do you mean like 'sir'"?

"On this planet, people's pride in their position-which is completely dependant on money-is extremely important. People here don't usually resort to physical violence, though most do go about armed, but I have seen a man, and also a woman, strike another across the face for not addressing them in a fitting manner."

"Hmm, sounds unnecessarily complicated. How do you know who's who?"

"It's just the way they do things. The really exalted wealthy are called Domsen. The ones below them are Fursten. Middle ones are called Altsen. A general and acceptable form if you're not sure is "Merchan". Finally, there are those with no means, they perform menial work and are not that visible. Often they are visitors from another part of the system. They're addressed, condescendingly, as Dale. Women you can safely call Nushka or if you're familiar, Nushie. Criminals are all Bonn.

"Olive, Nushie, my Dear, give me an example of how---?

"If I were introduced to you, I'd be Nusht Olivine Luster. When the dust settles you'll probably be Merchan Mica Sent. Or maybe Altsen. If we met someone really rich like a friend, Rogere, he would be Domsen Rogere Glisten."

"I hope he's not too good a friend---".

"No, he's not. Also, these titles are not earned by personal worth, but by how much money you have, no matter how you got it. He's certainly no one for you to worry about, that person does not exist.

"You'll see after a while how colors fit into this position business. For instance, the higher station may wear any color, but lower echelons cannot wear turquoise, orange, or green. The lowest wear only blue, gray, or brown; that sort of thing."

"How can you tolerate it, Olive? I mean doesn't it go against the grain? On Marble we are all worthy of respect, and if you didn't believe that, Gov. would gently and persistently remind you. I know that you are admired and treated well here, but how do you feel about having to show respect to undeserving superiors, or receive deference from someone who doesn't even know you?"

"Well, this is a foreign land. Their ways are different. You really do get used to it. If someone threw up or spilled something here in my little place, I'd call for Dale Cash. He or his wife would be here in four minutes and make it spotless and be pleasantly deferential. They don't do it out of fear, they do it out of a desire to succeed, to get ahead."

"I suppose," I assented. Olive got up and reached for my empty goffee cup, I gently pulled her arm toward me and kissed its inside.

Olive had agreed to show me around Garner today, but, what with one thing and another, we barely got out by midday.

We had rented a beautiful skimcraft, deep blue, its coating seemed to have depth like water. Where you touched it, the color changed and swirled. Olive grabbed her side and vaulted gaily in. I tried to do the same but found that it rocked steeply, I gave myself some forward motion and sort of leaped up and in, the skimcraft rolling wildly.

"Where do you want to go?"

I thought how what I really needed was a fingernail file; I hate it when my fingernail catches on things like cloth.

I looked down. Clusters of dwellings, round, square, many storied. Buildings gracefully soaring upwards, tall slender cylinders and pyramids. Small bodies of water; and greensward everywhere I might like to to walk on, lie on, it was even on top of buildings. Skimcraft, trickles, bubbles, and other vessels sped, floated, hung, and flew through the clear atmosphere.

"I don't see any smoke, exhaust, or even dust. I thought Wentworth was an industrial as well as a consumer capitol."

"It is, but you can't see a lot of it from here. Let's go down where we can."

Olive tapped her armrest and spoke, "Undercity, please."

"Thank you, Nushka," responded a real voice.

The skimcraft dove and entered what looked like a cavernous building shaped like a shiny seashell partly buried in sand. It led through a brief intensely dark passage into- a whole world. Beneath Garner was an entire subcity. Not tunnels but a vast open space of huge and small manufacturing plants. Lighting must have been artificial, but it was as brilliant as any living space.

The ceiling or roof of this gigantic burrow was held up by pillars probably a hundred twenty or a maybe two hundred feet tall of some extruded material. There were many dozens of pillars visible and at their tops, a network, a filigree, of supporting girders in flat arches; the bones that held up the surface city. As I watched, these roof bones could be seen to stretch and move, like actual ribs of a living chest. The soaring supporting pillars were not bare but were covered with rooms and apartments, offices and parking slots with various vehicles protruding; bees in a hive.

It was noisy and pleasant in its bold, bustling, aggressive activity. I saw brightly coated buildings proclaiming: "Golden Chemicals", "Altsur Rep's Reclaiming", "Furst Construction + Extraction". There was "Superior Transport Products", "Fast, Friendly Cleaning", "Solid Security", "Factor's Fantastic Furnaces-Industrial and Residential", "No Business Like Business", "Entertainment Connections", "Drills Doin' It", "Distinguished Medical", "Top Flyte Recycling", "Plantar's Funerals", "Established Astronautics", "Preferred Marketing", "What a Deal! Retail", and on and on. It was exciting, it was clean. It was fast moving. Air Control kept us in our slot so we wouldn't ram into the hundreds of other vehicles shooting past.

"Utterly amazing," I said finally.

"Had enough of the Cavern?"

"For now anyway. The Cavern is not natural is it?"