Гарри Гаррисон - To The Stars

“Yes, in second class. It was bearable.”

“All right. We have three shops to go to, the only three sporting goods places in Edinburgh that sell ski equipment. We’ll make the purchases between us, using cash so there will be no record of credit card use. They know me here, and I’ll say I lost my card on the train and it will be an hour before a new one can be issued, in the meantime I want to buy a few things. I know it works this way because it happened to me a few years ago. They’ll take the cash.”

“It will work for one, but not for two. I have a card for an account that is solvent, though the person named on the card does not exist.”

“That’s even better. You’ll buy the expensive items like the high density battery and two compasses I’ll need. Do you want me to write down what you should get?”

“No. I have been trained to remember things.”

“Good. You mentioned the train. What will I be doing then?”

“Both of us will be going to Inverness for the night. You are well known at Kingsmills Hotel, aren’t you?”

“You people know more about me than I do myself. Yes, they know me there.”

“We thought so. A room has been booked for you for the night. By morning everything else will have been arranged.”

“You can’t tell me yet what is being planned?”

“I don’t know myself. This whole thing has been rush and extemporize and pulled together at the last minute. But we do have a solid base in the Highlands, ex-prisoners for the most part who are glad to help escapers. They know by experience what it is like inside.”

They stepped into a doorway so she could give him the money. He told her what would be needed and she nodded her head and repeated the list word-perfect.

When they met again he had his purchases in a backpack, but the skis and everything else she had bought had been sent ahead to the station, to be put into his compartment. They reached the station a half an hour before the train was to leave and Jan made a detailed search of the compartment, as detailed as he could without instruments, for any concealed bugs.

“Nothing that I can find,” he said.

“To our knowledge these compartments are rarely bugged, unless for a specific assignment. It is different in second class where bugging and computer monitoring are routine.”

Sara had taken off her coat and sat by the window as the train started, looking out as the buildings gave way to countryside. Her green suit appeared to be soft leather, trimmed with fur that matched her fur hat. She turned and caught his eyes on her.

“I was admiring,” he said. “You look very attractive in that getup.”

“Protective coloration, a beautiful woman of means. But thank you in any case. Though I believe in complete equality of the sexes it does not offend me, as it does some, to be admired for something other than my brain.”

“How could it offend?” Jan was still stopped by some of the things she said. “But don’t tell me — not just now. I’m going to open the bar and give you a drink of something strong, and myself one as well, then ring for some sandwiches with meat in them.” He felt a flash of guilt which he tried to ignore. “Venison, they do it very well on this train. And perhaps some smoked salmon first. And with it — yes, here it is — Glen Morangie, the finest of the straight malt whiskies. Do you know it?”

“I have never even heard of it.”

“Lucky girl, to roll in warm luxury through the cold Highland wilderness — sipping your first malt. I’ll join you.

It was impossible not to enjoy the trip, despite the danger it represented. This danger was in the past — and the future. For the brief hours they were on the train the world was held in suspension. Outside the window the sun shone brilliantly on a white landscape of mountains and forest, the occasional flatness of a frozen loch. No smoke rose from the chimneys of the crofters’ cottages, even the most remote of them was heated by electricity, but other than this the scene had been unchanged for millennia. There were sheep in protected fields, and a herd of deer bounding away from the swift approach of the electric train.

“I didn’t know it could be so beautiful,” Sara said. “I’ve never been this far north before. But it seems so sterile and barren as well.”

“It’s really the opposite. Come in the summer and you’ll find it bursting with life.”

“Perhaps. Could I have a little more of that fascinating whiskey? It has my head spinning!”

“Keep it spinning. You’ll sober up quickly enough in Inverness.”

“I’m sure of that. You’ll go directly to the hotel and wait for instructions. What about all this ski equipment?”

“I’ll take half of it with me, check the rest in here at the left luggage.”

“That sounds right.” Sara sipped the malt whiskey and wrinkled her nose. “So strong. I’m still not sure I like it. Inverness is on the edge of the security area, you know. All hotel records are entered automatically into the police files.”

“I didn’t know. But I’ve stayed often enough at the Kingsmills so it won’t appear out of the ordinary.”

“No. You are fine, the perfect cover. But I don’t dare appear on any records. And I don’t think I’ll be able to catch the last train back tonight. I’ll have to stay in your room, if that’s all right with you?”

“Absolutely delighted.”

When she said this Jan experienced a delightful warming experience somewhere in the middle of his body. He remembered her breasts revealed so quickly in the café in London. He smiled unconsciously at the thought — and found her smiling back.

“You’re terrible,” she said, “just like all the other men.” But there was more humor than anger in her words. “Instead of thinking about the dangerous business ahead I suppose that your hormone-drenched brain is thinking only of seducing me?”

“Well, not only that…”

They laughed together and Sara reached out and took his hand. “What you men never seem to understand,” she said, “is that women can enjoy love and sex just as much as you can. Is it unladylike to admit that I have been thinking about you since that first disastrous night in the submarine?”

“Unladylike or not, I think it’s wonderful.”

“Very good,” she said, all business again. “After you check in, go out for a walk, get some fresh air, or go drink in a pub. You’ll pass me on the street and just tell me your room number without stopping. Then go to your room right after dinner. I don’t want to hang about the streets too much after dark and I’ll join you as soon as I find out what the plans are to be for tomorrow. Agreed?”

“Agreed.”

Sara left the train before he did, vanishing in the crowd. Jan waved a porter over and had him bring the skiing gear to left luggage. It was a short walk to the hotel with his almost-empty pack on his back. Packs were more in use than suitcases in the Highlands at this time of year and it elicited no notice, even when he checked into the hotel.

“Welcome back, Engineer Kulozik, always a pleasure to see you. We are short on rooms so we can’t give you your usual one. But there is a fine one on the third floor, if you don’t mind.”

“No problem,” Jan said, taking the key. “Would you have the pack put in the room? I want to go out before the shops close.”

“Our pleasure.”

Everything went as planned. Sara nodded when she heard the room number and continued past him without stopping. He had an early meal in the grill and was in his room by seven. In the bookcase he found a John Buchan novel, almost required reading here, and he sat down with that and a weak whiskey and water. Without his realizing it the lost night’s sleep caught up with him and the next thing he knew he was starting awake at the light tapping on the door. Sara slipped in quickly.