The Dark Lady

them?”
    “I can find no record of any alien ever mentioning her or painting her portrait.”
    “Why didn't she vanish after the Kid was killed on Acheron?”
    Venzia considered his answer for a moment. “She has never actually disappeared in front of anyone,” he said at last. “Usually, she is simply reported missing.” He paused. “Tai Chong told me what happened on Acheron. From her description of the planet, there's no way the Dark Lady could have disappeared from the jail, or even from the planet's surface, without alerting the populace to her abilities.”
    Heath shook his head. “It's a nice theory, but it doesn't hold water.”
    “Oh?” said Venzia. “Why not?”
    “If she doesn't want anyone to know what she can do, why did she vanish from my ship?”
    Venzia smiled. “Because she wasn't revealing any secrets. Leonardo knew who she was.”
    “Leonardo just figured out who she was five minutes ago!” retorted Heath.
    “But I knew that she was called the Dark Lady, Friend Valentine,” I said. “And I asked her about Brian McGinnis and Christopher Kilcullen.”
    “So you did,” admitted Heath.
    The three of us fell silent for a number of minutes. Finally Heath uttered a chuckle. “My God,” he said. “I've just spent an hour talking about the Dark Lady as if she's really something other than a beautiful woman or a fascinating alien who has mastered the art of teleportation. I'm going to wake up tomorrow and none of this will have happened.”
    “It is happening right now,” said Venzia. “And you know in your heart that she is not an alien.”
    “What do you think she is?” asked Heath.
    “I don't know,” answered Venzia.
    “Leonardo?” asked Heath.
    “I am tempted to say that she is the Mother of All Things,” I confessed, “but that would be blasphemous.”
    “Who or what is the Mother of All Things?” asked Venzia.
    “She whom we worship, as you worship your God,” I replied. “But, while I do not wish to offend you, I cannot believe that the Mother of All Things is a member of an alien race.”
    “Perhaps she appears to Bjornns in a different form,” suggested Heath.
    “No Bjornn performs acts that would attract the Dark Lady,” I said. “My race cherishes life.”
    “So does ours, for the most part,” said Venzia. “But there she is, nonetheless.”
    “You revere courage,” I pointed out. “We do not. In fact, there is no word for hero in the Bjornn language. The concept does not exist among my people.”
    “Even herd animals are capable of heroism,” commented Heath. “Take the herd bull that faces a carnivore while the rest scamper to safety.”
    “The herd bull acts from blind, unreasoning instinct, not heroism, Friend Valentine,” I replied. “Presented with a conscious choice, he would never willingly face a carnivore, and the Dark Lady seems to visit only those men who court her as a matter of choice.”
    “Just a minute!” said Heath suddenly. “Your people perform ritual suicide. Wouldn't that constitute the kind of behavior that would attract her?”
    “There is nothing heroic about ending one's own life to avoid continued disgrace, Friend Valentine,” I noted.
    “We're getting off the subject,” interjected Venzia. “She visits men. That's enough for us to know.”
    “All right,” said Heath. “We know she visits men. Now what?”
    “Now we find her,” said Venzia with quiet intensity.
    Heath chuckled. “It's a big galaxy, Mr. Venzia— and she might not even be in it.”
    “Then we figure out where she'll appear next, and we wait for her.”
    “For what purpose, Friend Reuben?” I asked.
    “Poor Leonardo,” said Venzia with genuine compassion. “You've put together all the pieces, and you still haven't solved the puzzle.”
    “I beg your pardon?” I said.
    “We sit her down and talk to her,” said Venzia.
    “Let me get this straight,” said Heath. “You've spent six years and God knows how much money trying to find her, and all you want to do is sit down and talk to her?”
    “What would you do with her, Mr. Heath?” asked Venzia contemptuously.
    “You know what I want to do with her,” replied Heath.
    “I'll pay you more for her than Abercrombie will.”
    “I doubt it,” said Heath. “Do you know how much Malcolm Abercrombie is worth?”
    “All I want is five minutes of her time,” said Venzia. “After that you can sell her to Abercrombie or do anything else you want with her.”
    “ If she will