because they came looking for me to educate the
young men in the Palace.
44 So far, I've been doing quite well. Another two-hundred- fifty
years, I'll have my debt paid, and I'll be a free woman again. I'll
still have a lot of my life left, so I suppose I should be grateful."
45 "What kind of movies did you perform in?" asked Morn.
46 "The kind of movies I hope you never watch," the woman remarked,
"the kind you can't show in a local theater to women and children. The
kind they only show in the back room of a men's club."
47 Morn understood what she meant. The father of one of the boys at
school had a collection of such films. He had been invited to see some
of them, but only sat half-way through the first one. They were so
embarrassing he got up and left.
48 It wasn't that Morn was ashamed of such things, he had snuck a look
at some of the magazines the work staff kept hidden here and there in
the Palace. He just wasn't ready for such things yet. There was plenty
of time for that sort of thing when he grew up.
49 "So if your debt is paid," Morn remarked, "you're free. You won't
have to do these things anymore? Is there anyone you can go to? Anyone
that will take you in?"
50 "I have an old friend," the woman answered, "I have known from
childhood. His name is Red Mountain. He's
the Chief Engineer of the shipyards up on Moon 2. He's been trying to
find a way to get the money to buy my freedom, but
one-hundred-and-fifty-thousand credits is a lot of money!"
51 "Quite a bit," agreed Morn. He went over to the computer, put his
I.D. card in, and punched up a total on
his bank account. "Eight-hundred-thousand credits won't even make a
dent," he thought. He took a deck of cards off a shelf and went over to
the dining table. "Do you play Points?" he asked.