Monsters in Orbit by Vance Jack

Author:Vance, Jack [Vance, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780234720523
Google: N18bAQAAIAAJ
Amazon: 0234720522
Goodreads: 2903037
Publisher: Ace Books
Published: 1965-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Part Two

I

Mr. Mycroft ran a hand through his gray hair and said in a wry voice, “I make no pretense of understanding you.”

In the big leather chair reserved for the relaxation of Mycroft’s high-strung clients Jean fidgeted, stretched her fingers, examined the backs of her hands. “I don’t even understand myself.”

Through the window she watched a tomato-red Marshall Moon-chaser fleeting along the blue April sky. “Money hasn’t affected me quite the way I expected…I’ve always wanted a little boat like that. I could buy a dozen if I liked, but—” she shook her head, eyes still out in the blue distance.

Mycroft recalled the first time he had seen her: wary and wild, characterized by a precocious feral quality, a recklessness that made ordinary women seem pastel and insipid. Mycroft smiled primly. He could hardly say that she had become dull. She still had her élan, her unnerving charm. She was jet and ivory and pale rose; her mouth was wide and flexible, her little teeth were white and sharp; she carried herself with a swash-buckling fervor—but something was gone, and not necessarily for the worse.

“Nothing’s like what I thought it would be,” said Jean. “Clothes…” She looked down at her dark green slacks, her black pullover sweater. “These are good enough. Men…” Mycroft watched her attentively. “They’re all the same, silly jackasses.”

Mycroft made a small involuntary grimace, settled himself in his chair. At fifty he was three times her age.

“The lovers are bad,” said Jean, “but I’m used to them, I’ve never lacked there. But the other ones, the financiers, the sharp-shooters—they upset me. Like spiders.”

Mycroft made haste to explain. “It’s inevitable. They’re after anyone with wealth. Cranks—promoters—confidence men —they won’t leave you alone. Refer them to me. As your guardian I can dispose of them quickly.”

“When I was poor,” said Jean mournfully, “I wanted so many things. And now—” she swung out her arms in a gesture of abandon “—I can buy and buy and buy. And I don’t want anything. I can have anything I want, and it’s almost as if I had it already…I’d rather like to make some more money…I guess what I’ve got is like the first taste of blood to a wolf.”

Mycroft sat back in alarm. “My dear girl, that’s the occupational disease of old men! Not for a—”

Jean said fretfully, “You act, Mr. Mycroft, as if I’m not human.” This was true; Mycroft instinctively behaved toward Jean as he might toward a beautiful, alarming and unpredictable animal.

“It’s not that I especially want more money…I suppose the fact is that I’m bored.”

Worse and worse, thought Mycroft. Bored people got into mischief. Desperately he searched his mind. “Ah—there’s always the theater. You could finance a production and perhaps you’d like to act in it yourself?”

“Pish,” said Jean. “Bunch of fakers!”

“You might go to school?”

“It sounds very tiring, Mr. Mycroft.”

“I suppose it would be…”

“I’m not the scholastic type. And there’s something else on my mind. It’s probably foolish and pointless, but I can’t seem to get away from it.

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