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Trigger found its control switch on the bedstand and shut it off. At once a soft chiming sounded from the miniature ComWeb on the bedstand. Its screen filled with a pulsing glow, and there was a voice. "This is a recording, Miss Drellgannoth," the voice told her. "If Room Service may intrude with an audio message, please be so good as to touch the blue circle at the base of your ComWeb."
"All right," she said. "I won't. It's because of dive hallucinations, I suppose?" "Thank you very much, Miss Drellgannoth. Yes, it is because of the misapprehensions which may be caused by dive hallucinations. May I be of service to you at this time? Perhaps you would like me to demonstrate the various interesting uses of your personal ComWeb Cabinet?"
Forgive the intrusion, but the ship will dive in one hour. Do you wish to have a rest cubicle prepared?" "No, thanks," Trigger said. "I'll stay awake." "Thank you, Miss Drellgannoth. As a formality and in accordance with Federation regulations, allow me to remind you that Federation Law does not permit the bearing of personal weapons by passengers during a dive." Her glance went to the Denton.
Rather severely, it seemed. "Did you mean," the green one asked carefully, "that you are not a retainer?" Trigger nodded. "I'm from Maccadon," she explained. "The name is Birna Drellgannoth." "Maccadon," the pink one repeated. "You are a commoner then, young Birna?" "Of course she is!" The green one looked offended. "Maccadon!"
In Ceyce a short two hours after she'd felled Mihul, Trigger called the interstellar spaceport and learned that the Dawn City was open to passengers and their guests. Birna Drellgannoth picked up her tickets and went on board, mingling unostentatiously with a group in a mood of festive leave-taking.
Some Security officer with a good memory and a habit of noticing faces might identify her otherwise from the news viewer pictures taken on Manon. And he just might start wondering then why she was traveling as Birna Drellgannoth and start to check. She paused long enough to get the Legal Code article referred to into the viewer. Somebody on board appeared to have got himself murdered.
Three minutes after that she had paid for the Dawn City reservation as Birna Drellgannoth and deposited her thumbprints with the ticket office. Counting what was left, she found it came to just under a hundred and thirty-eight. Definitely no dinner tonight! She needed a suitcase and a change of clothing. And then she'd just better go sit in that hotel room.
"Permission for audio intrusion granted," Trigger said casually without looking around. She was getting used to this sort of thing. "Thank you, Miss Drellgannoth," said the ComWeb. "A package from the Beldon Shop has been deposited in your mail transmitter." It signed off. Beldon Shop? Trigger frowned, laid the gown across a chair and went over to the transmitter receptacle. She opened it.
Trigger touched the blue circle. "Go ahead," she invited. "Thank you, Miss Drellgannoth," said the voice. "For the duration of the voyage your personal ComWeb will be opened to callers, for either audio or visual intrusion, only by your verbal permission or by your touch on the blue circle." It stopped. Another voice picked up. "This is your Personal Room Stewardess, Miss Drellgannoth.
So ... she'd get off the school grounds, take a tube strip into downtown Ceyce, step into a ComWeb booth, and call Grand Commerce transportation for information on the earliest subspace runs to Manon. She'd reserve a berth on the first fast boat out. In the name of let's see in the name of Birna Drellgannoth, who had been a friend of hers when they were around the age of ten.
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