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"Oh, nay." Elias smiled, excitement in his eyes. "There are hills by the rivers and, way inland, there
are mountains."
"So it's just around the spaceport that the land is like a table?" Suzanne asked, all wide-eyed and
ingenuous.
"It is for they needed flat land where the ships would come in, you see. They are atmosphere
craft, after all, and many of the smaller ones still glide in, so they need a great deal of flat running
space."
"I suppose they would," Suzanne marveled. "Now, why didn't I ever think of that?"
Lacey's eyes flashed, and I could see her jaw tighten only because I was sitting across from
Prudence, and Lacey was right there over her shoulder in the next seat. Larry was sitting next to
Prudence, so he had the benefit of profile, and Marty was sitting next to me, looking decidedly frustrated
but it was like a well-designed theater, there really was no bad seat.
"It seems so strange that you have no theaters," Lacey said. "If seeing Bible stories come alive is
thrilling, children in school would find it even more inspiring to perform the roles of saints and heroes."
Elias's eyes went wide with surprise. "Why, what an amazing thought! Surely it must be even as
you say!"
"Has anyone ever told you why they don't have theaters?" Suzanne asked.
Elias shook his head. "No one has even thought of it, for all I know."
"But your spaceship crews see live theater when they stop on Terra," Winston said from across the
aisle.
"Aye, so I hear." Elias looked up at him, long enough to be polite. "My eldest brother is a space
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trader first officer, as of last year and he tells us that one must choose very carefully in going to the
theater there, for there are many, many immoral plays in the cities of Old Earth."
"That is true, sad to say," Winston confirmed.
I was sure big brother was careful about the plays he chose, all right. I just wondered which ones he
was selecting. After all, he had to witness wickedness firsthand if he was going to tell how horrible it
was, didn't he?
"Would you believe it," Elias said, "some of those actresses in New York and London and Paris
wear almost nothing at all when they go out there in front of all those people?"
"That much?" Marty muttered, but Marnie glared him to silence, and he shriveled up inside his
jacket. Overdid it, of course.
"There are actresses who are indiscreet," Lacey said sadly.
"Aye, and he was warned against them, when first he went aboard a merchant ship! Warned that
actresses might corrupt him! Surely the folk who said that had not seen two such lovely ladies as
yourselves, so demure and modest!"
Merlo had a sudden coughing fit.
"There are members of our profession who are somewhat less than virtuous," Lacey said sadly, but
Suzanne gave Elias a mischievous wink.
"Beware, kind sir! I might corrupt you while you aren't looking!"
Elias joined in the laugh that followed, albeit his was a bit nervous.
Prudence heard and glared back over her shoulder.
Larry moved in to distract, fast. "We're not really the monsters they say we are, Miss Prudence."
She turned to him, her own smile warming in response to his. "I would scarcely think you were,
Mr. Lash, though surely . .. what is the matter, Mr. Kemp?"
"Hiccups," Marty answered, and took another deep breath.
Larry flashed him a glare, but he wasn't looking.
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"Well, if they tell stories like that about us, no wonder they don't want children learning about
theater," I said, trying to sound hearty.
'True, Mr. Lazarian." Prudence gave me that dazzling smile again. "But I am no child."
It was hard to tell with that voluminous dress, but I was inclined to agree.
"Then I'll tell you what," I said. "We'll tell you about theater, and you tell us about Citadel. Fair
enough?"
Her smile was vibrant at least, it made me vibrate. "'Fair indeed! Ask what you will!"
"Anything?" Marty said, with an overearnest grin and an eager gleam in his eye.
Prudence lost her smile and drew back, startled. Elias turned around, frowning, suspicious.
"Don't pay any attention to him," I advised. "He's just hamming it up."
"Hamming?" Prudence asked with a pretty frown she must have been somewhat reassured.
"Overacting, dea & ah, Prudence," Mamie explained from across the aisle, working hard at being
sweet. "Speaking his lines with too much emotion and not enough conviction. Martyn does it for
comedic effect, though. He is our comic."
" 'Comic'?"
Marnie took a deep breath and a firm hold on her patience. Marty stepped in fast, grinning. "A
funny man, Miss Prudence or funny woman, of course, but the term is usually applied to guys."
"Possibly because more men than women enjoy making fools of themselves." Lacey gave Marty a
look of scorn. "Often misplaced."
"Hey, I've gotta try for every laugh I can get," Marty protested.
"I know." Larry sneered. "You get so few of them."
"Only when you're in the house." Marty played to Prudence again. "Besides, female comics get
better treatment they call them 'comediennes.' "
Prudence watched this exchange wide-eyed, but with a growing smile. Marty noticed and winked at
her. "I wasn't serious, Miss Prudence. That would take a major effort for me."
Finally, Prudence laughed, and Elias relaxed, but was still wary.
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"Let me rephrase that," Marty said. He clapped a hand over his forehead and wiped it slowly down
over his face, emerging with a very serious expression. "Can we really ask you anything about Citadel?"
Prudence erupted into peals of laughter, and Elias chuckled a little.
Marty nodded at him. "Coming from you, that's a compliment."
The smile disappeared, and Elias looked lost.
"He means that you are usually so serious, that a chuckle from you is as good as a belly laugh from
someone else," Suzanne explained.
"Oh! Thank you, Ms. Souci!" He turned back to her, eyes glowing. "What is a 'belly laugh'?"
"Why . . ." Suzanne faltered, surprised that he didn't know the term, and Winston stepped in
smoothly, albeit from the next seat over.
"It refers to laughing so hard that your stomach hurts, young man."
Elias stared. "Why would my stomach hurt from laughing?"
"Because that is the true source of your breathing," Winston explained. "You think of breath as
coming from the lungs, no doubt, and of course it does but the muscles that fill and empty those lungs
are the diaphragm and transver-sus abdominis your belly muscles."
"Nay!" Elias frowned. "Surely it is with our chests that we breathe!"
"Far less than you would think," Ogden put in. "They only top off the bottle, so to speak. Have you
never been struck in the stomach, young man?"
"Why of course," Elias said. "What boy has not?"
"Quite true. And when you have suffered such a blow, you no doubt have noticed that you cannot
breathe for a minute or so. That is because your abdominal muscles have been momentarily paralyzed."
"If you doubt us, ask your doctor," Charlie said. "You'll find he confirms the truth of what we've
said."
Elias's eyes took on a new light. Up till then, I think he was prepared to believe that everything
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