“He’s got the whole damned floor. Take one step out and you’re in the middle of his parlor.”

“Thanks,” said Cain, stepping into the elevator as it arrived. As the doors closed behind him he realized that he didn’t know the floor number, but then the elevator began ascending swiftly and he decided that it only went to one floor.

When it came to a stop, he emerged into a palatial pent-house. It was fully fifty feet by sixty, and filled to overflowing with objets d’art gathered—or plundered—from all across the galaxy. In the center of the room was a sunken circular tub with platinum fixtures, and sitting in the steaming water was an emaciated man with sunken cheeks and dark, watery eyes. His narrow arms were sprawled over the edges of the tub, and Cain noticed that his fingers were covered by truly magnificent rings. He smoked a large cigar that had somehow avoided becoming waterlogged.

Standing on each side of the tub were a pair of humanoid aliens, both obviously female. Their skins, covered with a slick secretion that may or may not have been natural, glistened under the lights of the apartment. Their arms seemed supple and boneless, their legs slender and strangely jointed. Each had a round, expressive face, with a generous, very red triangular mouth and pink eyes that were little more than angular slits. Both were nude and were devoid of any body hair. They had no breasts, but their genitalia, thus exposed, seemed close to human. There was a supple, alien grace to them, which Cain found fascinating and mildly repugnant. Neither of them seemed to notice him at all.

“You’re staring, Mr. Cain,” said the man in the tub.

“I’m sorry,” said Cain. “I had heard about the fali, but I hadn’t seen them before.”

“Nice, useful pets,” said the man, reaching up and giving a friendly pat to a bare fali buttock. “About as bright as a potted plant, but very pleasant in their way.” He took a puff of his cigar. “I understand that you wish to see me.”

“If you’re Stern.”

“Jonathan Jeremy Jacobar Stern, at your service,” he said. “Is this going to take long?”

“I hope not.”

“What a shame,” he said with mock regret. “If it was, I’d invite you to join me. There is absolutely nothing like sitting in warm water to relax a man and help him shed the cares of the day. I’ll be with you in just a moment.” He turned to one of the fali and extended his arm. “Give me a boost up, my pretty.”

She reached down, grabbed his hand, and pulled him to his feet, while her companion walked to a closet and returned shortly with a robe.