Astounding Science Fiction, British Edition, December 1955 — page 109: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ae THE LONG WAY HOME 107 “No .. . wait a minute, sir. Take it easy. Maybe we can.” The sulky man looked around the table. ‘“‘Anybody know her? No? It could be inquired about, though. es ‘Sure.”” Langley peeled off ten ten-solar notes. ‘““That’s to hire inquirers. The reward is extra. But it’s no good if she isn’t found inside . . . Hm-m-m . three hours.” His company evaporated. He sat down, ordered another drink, and tried to control his impatience. Time dragged. How much of life went in simply waiting! A girl came up with a suggestion. Langley sent her off to look too. He nursed his beers: now, as never before, he had to have a clear head. In two hours and eighteen minutes, a breathless little man panted back to the table. “I’ve found her!’? Langley’s heart jumped. He stood up, taking it slow. “Seen her?” “Well, no. But a new maid answering her description did hire out to a Slimer—a merchant from Srinis, I mean—just eleven days ago. The cook told me that, after somebody else had tracked down the cook for me.” The spaceman nodded. His guess had been right: the servant class would still know more gossip than a regiment of police could track down. People hadn’t changed so much. “‘Let’s go,” he said, and went out the door. *“How about my reward?”’ “You'll get it when I see her. Control your emotions.”’ Five thousand years ago, a bibliophile acquaintance had made him read a tattered book some hundred years old—the Private Eye school—claiming it was something unique in the annals of pornography. Langley had been rather bored by it. Now, recognizing the prototype of his action-pattern, he grinned. But any pattern would do, in this amorphous world of low- level. They went dawn a broad street full of strangeness. The little man stopped outside a door. “This is the place. I don’t know how we get in, though.’ Langley punched the scanner button. Presently the door opened, to reveal a human butler of formidable proportions. The American was quite prepared to slug a way past him if necessary. But he wasn’t a slave—aliens weren’t permitted to own humans. He had been hired once, and could probably be hired again. : “Excuse me,”’ said Langley. ““Do you have a new maid, a tall redhead?” “Sir, my employer values his privacy.” Langley ruffled a sheaf of large bills. ‘Too bad. It’s worth a good deal to me. I only want to talk with her.” He got in, leaving his informant to jitter outside. The air was thick and damp, the light a flooding greenish yellow which hurt his eyes. The out- worlders would employ live servants for prestige, but must have to pay rather well. The thought that he had driven Marin to this artificial swamp was like teeth in his soul. She stood in a chamber full of mist. Droplets of fog had condensed to glitter in her hair. Unsurprised eyes wate} him gravely. “T’ve come,” he whispered. CGomicbooksreom