"Welcome to Luna," Zoe Wirt said cheerfully, her jolly eyes enlarged by her red-framed, triangular glasses. "Via myself, Mr. Howard says hello to each and every one of you, and most especially to Mr. Glen Runciter for making his organization - and you people, in particular - available to us. This subsurface hotel suite, decorated by Mr. Howard's artistically talented sister Lada, lies just three-hundred linear yards from the industrial and research facilities which Mr. Howard believes to have been infiltrated. Your joint presence in this room, therefore, should already be inhibiting the psionic capabilities of Hollis' agents, a thought pleasing to all of us." She paused, looked over them all. "Are there any questions?"
Tinkering with his test gear, Joe Chip ignored her; despite their client's stipulation, he intended to measure the surrounding psionic field. During the hour-long trip from Earth he and Glen Runciter had decided on this.
"I have a question," Fred Zafsky said, raising his hand. He giggled. "Where is the bathroom?"
"You will each be given a miniature map," Zoe Wirt said, "on which this is indicated." She nodded to a drab female assistant, who began passing out brightly colored, glossy paper maps. "This suite," she continued, "is complete with a kitchen all the appliances of which are free, rather than coin-operated. Obviously, outright blatant expense has been incurred in the constructing of this living unit, which is ample enough for twenty persons, possessing, as it does, its own self-regulating air, heat, water, and unusually varied food supply, plus closed-circuit TV and high-fidelity polyphonic phonograph sound-system - the two latter facilities, however, unlike the kitchen, being coin-operated. To aid you in utilizing these recreation facilities, a change-making machine has been placed in the game room."
"My map," Al Hammond said, "shows only nine bedrooms."
"Each bedroom," Miss Wirt said, "contains two bunk-type beds; hence eighteen accommodations in all. In addition, five of the beds are double, assisting those of you who wish to sleep with each other during your stay here."
"I have a rule," Runciter said irritably, "about my employees sleeping with one another."
"For or against?" Zoe Wirt inquired.
"Against." Runciter crumpled up his map and dropped it to the metal, heated floor. "I'm not accustomed to being told-"
"But you will not be staying here, Mr. Runciter," Miss Wirt pointed out. "Aren't you returning to Earth as soon as your employees begin to function?" She smiled her professional smile at him.
Runciter said to Joe Chip, "You getting any readings as to the psi field?"
"First," Joe said, "I have to obtain a reading on the counter-field our inertials are generating."
"You should have done that on the trip," Runciter said.
"Are you attempting to take measurements?" Miss Wirt inquired alertly. "Mr. Howard expressly contraindicated that, as I explained."
"We're taking a reading anyway," Runciter said.
"Mr. Howard-"
"This isn't Stanton Mick's business," Runciter told her.
To her drab assistant, Miss Wirt said, "Would you ask Mr, Mick to come down here, please?" The assistant scooted off in the direction of the syndrome of elevators. "Mr. Mick will tell you himself," Miss Wirt said to Runciter. "Meanwhile, please do nothing; I ask you kindly to wait until he arrives."
"I have a reading now," Joe said to Runciter. "On our own field. It's very high." Probably because of Pat, he decided. "Much higher than I would have expected," he said. Why are they so anxious for us not to take readings? he wondered. It's not a time factor now; our inertials are here and operating.
"Are there closets," Tippy Jackson asked, "where we can put away our clothes? I'd like to unpack."
"Each bedroom," Miss Wirt said, "has a large closet, coin-operated. And to start you all off-" She produced a large plastic bag. "Here is a complimentary supply of coins." She handed the rolls of dimes, nickels and quarters to Jon Ild. "Would you distribute these equally? A gesture of goodwill by Mr. Mick."
Edie Dorn asked, "Is there a nurse or doctor in this settlement? Sometimes I develop psychosomatic skin rashes when I'm hard at work; a cortisone-base ointment usually helps me, but in the hurry I forgot to bring some along."
"The industrial, research installations adjoining these living quarters," Miss Wirt said, "keep several doctors on standby, and in addition there is a small medical ward with beds for the ill."
"Coin-operated?" Sammy Mundo inquired.
"All our medical care," Miss Wirt said, "is free. But the burden of proof that he is genuinely ill rests on the shoulders of the alleged patient." She added, "All medication-dispensing machines, however, are coin-operated. I might say, in regard to this, that you will find in the game room of this suite a tranquilizer-dispensing machine. And, if you wish, we can probably have one of the stimulant-dispensing machines moved in from the adjoining installations."
