The Dark Lady

feeling?”
    “Hungry,” I replied.
    “Not without cause,” he replied. “You haven't eaten for thirty days.”
    “And how are you, Friend Valentine?” I inquired.
    “Starving!”
    Heath headed off toward the galley, groaning when his muscles didn't respond as he wanted them to, and I fell into step behind him, trying to ignore the shooting pains in my limbs.
    “Oh, am I stiff!” he complained.
    We reached the galley and ordered our food, then sat down at the tiny table and proceeded to eat voraciously and silently for the next few minutes. Finally Heath leaned back on his chair and sighed contentedly.
    “God, that was good!” he said devoutly. “I'm so full I may just go back into Deepsleep and take a little nap while I digest it all.”
    “That is not necessary, Friend Valentine,” I said. “The human body digests its food in— ”
    “That was a joke, Leonardo,” he interrupted.
    “Oh,” I said. Then, because I did not wish to hurt his feelings, I added, “It was very funny.”
    “Thanks,” he said wryly.
    “You are most welcome, Friend Valentine.”
    “You know,” said Heath, “I used to wonder why someone didn't just deposit one hundred credits in a bank at eight or nine percent— or even two percent, for that matter— and then go into Deepsleep for a few centuries. He'd wake up the richest man alive.” Heath grimaced. “Then I went into the chamber for a month or two, and I realized that you could die of starvation in less than a year. There's a big difference between shutting down your systems completely and just slowing them down to a crawl.”
    “Also, the Oligarchy has decreed that no investment shall accrue interest while the investor is in Deepsleep,” I pointed out. “That is why the Deepsleep process is a government monopoly: so that each chamber can be programmed to report the duration of each being's Deepsleep experience to the Treasury computer at Deluros.”
    “But that's a relatively recent ruling,” he replied. “It didn't exist during the Republic or the Democracy, and Deepsleep's been around almost twenty-five hundred years. No, I'm convinced that more than one man must have tried it and starved to death before coming out of Deepsleep.”
    There was a momentary silence.
    “Where are we now, Friend Valentine?” I asked at last.
    He shrugged. “We should have reached the Albion Cluster about two days ago,” he responded. “I can check our exact position with the computer.” He activated the computer with a voice command. “Computer, please give me our present position.”
    “We are in the Albion Cluster, and will pass the Maximus system at a distance of three light-years in approximately seventy-nine minutes.”
    “Right on schedule,” said Heath with a smug smile. “We must be a couple of days ahead of Venzia.”
    “But he left almost thirty-six hours before we did,” I said.
    Heath smiled confidently. “There aren't too many ships around that are as fast as this one— and Venzia doesn't strike me as the kind of man who'd own one of them.” He ordered a glass of wine from the galley, then asked the computer if it had recorded any messages while we were in Deepsleep.
    “Yes,” replied the computer. “I have stored three messages in my memory banks.”
    “Give them to me in the order you received them,” said Heath.
    “The first is from Louis Nittermeier,” announced the computer.
    “My lawyer,” explained Heath.
    “Valentine? Valentine?” said a man's high-pitched voice. “Damn! Why are you always in Deepsleep when I want you?” There was a momentary pause. “All right— let's see what I've got. All charges against you have been dropped, and you're free to return to Charlemagne. They confiscated about half your artwork— everything that wasn't registered with your insurance company— but we're negotiating to get it back. I think half a million credits will do it; there's one more guy I've got to see at police headquarters, but I've been told on reasonably good authority that he's not unwilling to bargain. What else?” Another pause. “Oh, yes— you lost your apartment on the west side of town, the one you rent under one of your aliases. Evidently you've neglected to pay your rent for the past four months. I've managed to tie it up in court so nobody else can move in; if you want it back, send me forty thousand credits for your back rent and maybe another ten thousand for a security deposit. And don't forget to pay your