Gateway To Xanadu by Sharon Green Page A

small laugh of amusement, probably because of Ringer’s expression. The man I worked for was trying very hard not to look like a hick from the sticks on his first visit to the big town, awed by all those gosh-dam tall buildings. Ringer wanted to know more about Val’s changing talent, but obviously felt that asking straight out for a demonstration would be boorish. I could have let him continue stumbling along on his own, but soft-heartedness is a major failing of mine.
    “I think he’d get a kick out of seeing that drink server again,” I told Val in the trade language used at Dameron’s base, then made an annoyed sound for Ringer’s benefit. “Damn it, if I don’t pay attention to what I’m saying, I slide right out of Federation Basic,” I said to Ringer’s frown in what I knew he’d take as an explanation. “What I was trying to say was, can you reach my bag? I have something I want to show you, but somehow it ended up closer to you than to me. ”
    Ringer grunted in what he thought was understanding and leaned over to look under the table, missing Val’s grin and the way my new partner slid out of his chair. I’d pushed my monolon bag as far away as I could with my foot, mostly to give Val the time he needed, but Val didn’t need much in the way of time.
    Even as he stood, his features were already blurring and his body was slimming; when Ringer straightened up no more than a moment later, Val even had the proper slouch.
    “How ‘bout a nuther round?” the waiter’s voice asked a Ringer who was paying almost no attention to him after noticing that my new partner seemed to have disappeared. “Ah don’ mind fetchin’ it.”
    “Not right now, thanks,” Ringer answered absently while looking around at as much of the bar as he could see. “Diana, where did Valdon go? And why didn’t you go with him? He hasn’t been here long enough to wander around on his own. ”
    “For some reason, people get huffy when I tag along with those using men’s rooms,” I told Ringer with a faint grin, but I wasn’t grinning at what he thought I was. “If you think he’ll need the help I’ll ignore the huffiness, but I think he can handle it on his own.”
    Ringer opened his mouth to growl an answer to my wisecracking, but the “drink server” he’d already dismissed in his mind beat him to it.
    “Say now, looky here,” Val drawled, sitting down in his chair again and picking up his only partly tasted brandy. “This here feller din’t finish his first. Guess Ah oughta do it fer ‘im.”
    “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Ringer demanded, finally turning to watch as Val-cum-the long and lanky waiter reached the glass to his lips and took an appreciative swallow. “Get your butt out of that chair and back to where it belongs, and while you’re at it you can replace that drink you just tasted-on the house. My friend isn’t into sharing. ”
    “Oh, come on, Ringer, don’t be so stuffy,” I put in as he continued to glare at an innocently sipping Val.
    “Let the guy stay and have a drink with us. Val won’t mind.”
    “He surely looked like a right decent feller t’ me,” Val agreed in the same drawl, leaning back in his armchair. “Ah don’ think he’d mind neither.”
    Ringer opened his mouth a second time to put his annoyance into words, but this time he stopped himself. His eyes had gone from the waiter’s face to the familiar blue base uniform that didn’t quite go with the face, a uniform he hadn’t taken the time to notice earlier, and suddenly everything clicked into place. He stared at the waiter’s face again with disbelief, then shook his head.

    “I’ll be damned,” he said very softly, taking it a lot better than I had, his stare still unmoving from Val’s face. “If you’d had the time to change clothes, there’s no way I would have known. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it.”
    “I would have had him do you, but people tend to have trouble