Stranger in a Strange Land Read Online Free PDF Page A

have to tell on herself to back up what she had said. “Ben? You wouldn’t give me away?”
    â€œHow?”
    â€œAny way at all.”
    â€œHmm . . . that covers a lot, but I’ll go along.”
    â€œAll right. Pour me another.” He did so, Jill went on. “I know they don’t have the Man from Mars hopped up—because I talked with him.”
    Caxton whistled. “I knew it. When I got up this morning I said to myself, ‘Go see Jill. She’s the ace up my sleeve.’ Honey lamb, have another drink. Have six. Here, take the pitcher.”
    â€œNot so fast!”
    â€œWhatever you like. May I rub your poor tired feet? Lady, you are about to be interviewed. How—”
    â€œNo, Ben! You promised. You quote me and I’ll lose my job.”
    â€œMmm . . . How about ‘from a usually reliable source’?”
    â€œI’d be scared.”
    â€œWell? Are you going to let me die of frustration and eat that steak by yourself?”
    â€œOh, I’ll talk. But you can’t use it.” Ben kept quiet; Jill described how she had out-flanked the guards.
    He interrupted. “Say! Could you do that again?”
    â€œHuh? I suppose so, but I won’t. It’s risky.”
    â€œWell, could you slip me in that way? Look, I’ll dress like an electrician—coveralls, union badge, tool kit. You slip me the key and—”
    â€œNo!”
    â€œHuh? Look, baby girl, be reasonable. This is the greatest human-interest story since Colombo conned Isabella into hocking her jewels. The only thing that worries me is that I may find another electrician—”
    â€œThe only thing that worries me is me ,” Jill interrupted. “To you it’s a story; to me it’s my career. They’d take away my cap, my pin, and ride me out of town on a rail.”
    â€œMmm . . . there’s that.”
    â€œThere sure is that.”
    â€œLady, you are about to be offered a bribe.”
    â€œHow big? It’ll take quite a chunk to keep me in style the rest of my life in Rio.”
    â€œWell . . . you can’t expect me to outbid Associated Press, or Reuters. How about a hundred?”
    â€œWhat do you think I am?”
    â€œWe settled that, we’re dickering over the price. A hundred and fifty?”
    â€œLook up the number of Associated Press, that’s a lamb.”
    â€œCapitol 10-9000. Jill, will you marry me? That’s as high as I can go.”
    She looked startled. “What did you say?”
    â€œWill you marry me? Then, when they ride you out of town on a rail, I’ll be waiting at the city line and take you away from your sordid existence. You’ll come back here and cool your toes in my grass— our grass—and forget your ignominy. But you’ve durn well got to sneak me into that room first.”
    â€œBen, you almost sound serious. If I phone for a Fair Witness, will you repeat that?”
    Caxton sighed. “Send for a Witness.”
    She stood up. “Ben,” she said softly, “I won’t hold you to it.” She kissed him. “Don’t joke about marriage to a spinster.”
    â€œI wasn’t joking.”
    â€œI wonder. Wipe off the lipstick and I’ll tell everything I know, then we’ll consider how you can use it without getting me ridden on that rail. Fair enough?”
    â€œFair enough.”
    She gave him a detailed account. “I’m sure he wasn’t drugged. I’m equally sure that he was rational—although he talked in the oddest fashion and asked the darnedest questions.”
    â€œIt would be odder still if he hadn’t talked oddly.”
    â€œHuh?”
    â€œJill, we don’t know much about Mars but we do know that Martians are not human. Suppose you were popped into a tribe so far back in the jungle that they had never seen shoes. Would you know the small talk that comes from a lifetime in a culture? That’s