The Dark Lady

in my future. “What's Abercrombie like?” he asked eagerly. “Is he as rich and crazy as they say?”
    “He is quite wealthy, Friend Hector,” I said, sneaking a brief look at Tai Chong's closed office door. “I am not competent to analyze his mental state.”
    “Did you find any paintings of that woman for him?”
    “A few,” I said.
    He stared at me. “What's the matter with you today, Leonardo? Usually you're so full of talk and questions that I can't keep up with you. Today you're acting like you've lost your best friend.”
    “I have been disgraced.”
    “How?”
    “Malcolm Abercrombie fired me for disloyalty,” I said, my color reflecting my humiliation.
    “So what?” said Rayburn. “I've been fired three times, and I'll probably be fired five more. It's an occupational hazard, that's all. When it happens, you have a drink, you get laid, and you forget about it.” He paused. “Hell, you don't even have to hunt up another job. You've still got one with Claiborne.”
    “It is not that simple, Friend Hector.”
    “It's precisely that simple, Leonardo,” he responded. “You Bjornns just don't have the right perspective.”
    “But it is our perspective,” I replied, “and it is the one with which I must live.”
    My computer interrupted to say that Tai Chong was now ready to see me.
    “Look,” said Rayburn, “after you get through with her, stop by my desk and we'll go out and hang one on. I know a little place about three blocks from here that'll serve anyone. ” He smiled suddenly. “It'll be my treat.”
    “I thank you for your offer and your friendship, Friend Hector,” I said, rising to my feet, “but I must refuse it.”
    He shrugged. “Well, if you change your mind, let me know.”
    I promised that I would do so, and then walked over to Tai Chong's door, stood in front of the sensor until it had identified me, and entered the office as the door slid into the wall.
    “Leonardo,” she said, standing up and walking over to take my hand. “I'm so sorry about this mix-up!”
    “The fault is mine, Great Lady,” I said. “I have dishonored the Claiborne Galleries and the House of Crsthionn.”
    “Nonsense,” she said, brushing aside my confession. “That bigot managed to hunt down less than thirty paintings in a quarter of a century. You found him two in a month and he had the temerity to fire you!”
    I stood motionless for a moment, trying to assimilate what she had said. At last I found my voice.
    “Am I to understand that you are not angry with me, Great Lady?”
    “Of course not.”
    “But I was fired.”
    “Without cause.”
    “It was for speaking with Reuben Venzia.”
    “Freedom of speech and freedom of association are a couple of universal rights that seem to have escaped Malcolm Abercrombie's attention,” she said contemptuously. She gestured toward her vidphone. “I was in the process of reminding him of them when you arrived a few minutes ago.”
    “You must not antagonize him on my account, Great Lady,” I said, my color reflecting my distress.
    “I did it for Claiborne,” she replied firmly. “ Nobody goes around abusing my employees!”
    “That is what I wish to speak to you about.”
    “My speaking with Abercrombie?”
    “No. My position as one of your employees.”
    “Of course you're one of my employees,” she said reassuringly.
    “I am here to submit my resignation.”
    She looked surprised. “Your resignation? What are you talking about, Leonardo?”
    “I have dishonored my House.”
    “You have not. ”
    “We come from different cultures, and it would be meaningless to argue the point with you, Great Lady,” I said.
    “Then don't argue it.”
    “I will not. But I must insist that you accept my resignation.”
    “Have you applied for another job” she asked sharply.
    “No, Great Lady.”
    She relaxed slightly. “What will you do if I accept your resignation? Return to your House?”
    “I will perform the ritual of suicide.”
    “You'll do what ?” she demanded, her expression one of shock.
    “I will take my own life to abrogate the dishonor I have brought upon the House of Crsthionn.”
    “Just because you were fired?” she asked disbelievingly.
    “Yes.”
    “But that's insane!”
    “To a human, perhaps,” I replied calmly. “But to a Bjornn, it is both proper and expected.”
    She shook her head vigorously. “I can't permit you to kill yourself, Leonardo.”
    “It is not your decision, Great