Stranger in a Strange Land

stood waiting by the side of Mrs. Douglas' desk; she turned and saw that it was James Sanforth, the press agent she had sent for.
                "Have you heard from Berquist?" she demanded without preamble. 
                "Eh? I wasn't handling that; that's McCrary's pidgin."
                She brushed the irrelevancy aside. "You've got to discredit him before he talks."
                "Huh? You think Berquist has sold us out?"
                "Don't be naive. You should have checked with me before you used him."
                "But I didn't. It was McCrary's job."
                "You are supposed to know what is going on. I-" Madame Vesant's face came back on the screen. "Sit down over there," Mrs. Douglas said to Sanforth. "Wait." She turned back to the screen. "Allie dear, I want fresh horoscopes for Joseph and myself, just as quickly as you possibly can cast them."
                "Very well." The astrologer hesitated. "I can be of much greater assistance to you, dear, if you will tell me something of the nature of the emergency."
                Mrs. Douglas drummed on the desk. "You don't actually have to know, do you?"
                "Of course not. Anyone possessing the necessary rigorous training, mathematical skill, and knowledge of the stars could calculate a horoscope, knowing nothing more than the exact hour and place of birth of the subject. You know that, dear. You could learn to do it yourself. . . if you weren't so terribly busy. But remember: the stars incline but they do not compel. You enjoy free will. If I am to make the extremely detailed and difficult analysis necessary to advise you in a crisis, I must know in what sector to look. Are we most concerned with the influence of Venus? Or possibly with Mars? Or will the-"
                Mrs. Douglas decided. "With Mars," she interrupted. "Allie, I want you to cast a third horoscope."
                "Very well. Whose?"
                "Uh ... Allie, can I trust you?"
                Madame Vesant looked hurt. "Agnes, if you do not trust me, it would be far better for you not to consult me. There are others who can give you scientific readings. I am not the only student of the ancient knowledge. I understand that Professor von Krausemeyer is well thought of, even though he is sometimes inclined to..." She let her voice trail oft
                "Please, please! Of course I trust you! I wouldn't think of letting anyone else perform a calculation for me. Now listen carefully. No one can hear from your side?"
                "Of course not, dear."
                "I want you to cast a horoscope for Valentine Michael Smith."
                "'Valentine Mich-' The Man from Mars?"
                "Yes, yes. Allie, he's been kidnapped. We've got to find him."
                Some two hours later Madame Alexandra Vesant pushed herself back from her work table and sighed. She had had her secretary cancel all appointments and she really had tried; several sheets of paper, covered with diagrams and figures, and a dog-eared nautical almanac were in front of her and testified to her efforts. Alexandra Vesant differed from some other practicing astrologers in that she really did attempt to calculate the "influences" of the heavenly bodies, using a paper-backed book titled The Arcane Science of Judicial Astrology and Key to Solomon's Stone which had been given to her by her late husband, Professor Simon Magus, the well known mentalist, stage hypnotist and illusionist, and student of the secret arts.
                She trusted the book as she had trusted him; there was no one who could cast a horoscope like Simon, when he was sober-half the time he had not even needed to refer to the book, he knew it so well. She knew that she would never have that degree of skill, so she always referred to the almanac and to the manual. Her calculations were sometimes a little fuzzy, for the same reason that her checkbook sometimes did not balance; Becky Vesey (as she had been known as a child) had never really mastered the multiplication tables and she was inclined to confuse sevens with nines.
                Nevertheless her horoscopes were eminently satisfactory; Mrs. Douglas was not her only distinguished client.
                But this time she had been a touch panicky when the