“I have always been interested,” I said humbly. She laughed.

  “I don’t have quite the same interest. I mean, after all, if no one made deposits how could you make all of those withdrawals that you specialize in?”

  “Point made-I stand corrected.”

  “Perhaps it is more than a coincidence, and coming events cast their shadow before them. But the very last time that Sybill and I talked it was about how much she misses the old give and take of the stock exchange. And-dare I say it?-a life that at times is more attractive than lunar exploration. If only for a short while. I am sure that if Bolivar thought about it, that he would enjoy the joys of banking as well. And I know that Sybill would be more than happy to help him with her specialized knowledge.”

  “But are you sure that he will like it?” I asked.

  “Of course he will,” Sybil and Angelina said at the same time. I am sure that Sybill was in agreement as well. Yes, of course he would. At three to one odds he didn’t stand a chance otherwise.

  “I will arrange it,” Sybil said. “There is a branch of the Banco Cuerpo Especial on a very hospitable planet called Elysium. It is a little known fact that this bank is owned, run and operated by the Special Corps. If we are all in agreement we could shake the dust of Usti nad Labam from our shoes and go there. It will be a real family reunion. The computer search will continue and I will help Sybill with Bolivar’s new career.”

  “Poor man,” James said, then raised his glass to shield himself from the sizzling glances aimed his way.

  When we finally contacted Bolivar and Sybill with a conference telepresence call he looked gloomier and gloomier at his unavoidable fate. He could only wriggle on the hook.

  “I’m getting real close to a breakthrough on gravimetric tectonics and photon interaction.”

  “Sounds fascinating,” Angelina said. “You must tell us all about it when we get together on Elysium.”

  “It won’t take too long because you should pick up everything you need to know about banking in a few weeks,” Sybill said, obviously feeling some pity for her husband. “And don’t forget that banks are where the money is.”

  “True,” he said, looking more cheerful. “I will need a good bit more financing to finish my research.” And cheerfuller still. “It’s been a long time since we were all together. Some fun in the sun!”

  “And food that’s not dehydrated,” Sybill said, adding a grace note of enthusiasm. “We will have a ball.”

  And thus did my first day of honest employment end. When I awoke next morning I discovered that my Angelina had been up long before me, travel plans had been made, tickets booked, bags packed, computer fully charged, the cab at the door. I checked to see that Kaia’s daily deposit had been made-and we were on our way.

  We had a good time, I must admit a very good time. Sybil and Sybill were so happy to be reunited that we all basked in the warmth of their emotion. Bolivar actually began to enjoy his work in the bank; he was assistant manager by now and still climbing the ladder of success, looking forward to applying his new knowledge for our mutual benefit. And Elysium really was a pleasure planet and we enjoyed partaking thereof. It had a delightful climate at the equator, where the bank was located, and we, of course, settled in most easily. Countless small islands were set in a warm sea. I snorkeled and scuba dived happily among the varied lifeforms, getting back the muscle tone that slipped away so easily these days.

  But I still worked hard at my new employment every day. That is I checked to see if my daily wage had been deposited. And patted the computer, which bleeped and kept beavering away. The search and computations would have been long finished except that there was difficulty getting data from distant planets.

  “Don’t let it worry you,” James said. “I have search programs working in all the site cities. Enjoy yourself-and I’ll let you know as soon as the gongs ring.”

  I needed no encouragement. Although I enjoyed the scuba diving, even more gratifying was the rugged continent near Elysium’s northern pole. Here were jagged mountains and endless snow. A skier’s paradise. My muscle tone actually hummed with life now. Angelina and I enjoyed every moment of our extended holiday.

  Yet still best of all was waking in the morning and checking my balance in the bank. Which was growing at the rate of four million a day. Bolivar had arranged for each day’s deposit to be transferred, by a theoretically untraceable route, to a distant and highly secret bank. But all holidays must end. We hung up our skies and hopped on the first flight when Bolivar sent word that the search was finally coming up with the data that we needed. We joined together in the morning for a friendly family meal.

  “Now this is the kind of work I like,” I said, going out onto the balcony away from the other diners and lighting an after-breakfast cigar. Just as a bell rang in the computer, a red light blinked on-and a puff of smoke came out of a vent in the top.

  James looked up from his plate when he heard the ping and put his silverware down. “Results at last. It sure took long enough.”

  “Three weeks,” I said. “That is not too long.”

  “It is for this machine. At the minimum it has performed thirty-two to the one hundred eleventh teraflop operations since it started. Now let us see the result.”

  He sat and typed in a command. Scowled, typed faster. Eventually leaned back and sighed, touched a button. The printer clicked and extruded a sheet of paper.

  “The answer,” he said, waving it towards us.

  “Which is?” Angelina asked.

  “A little perturbing. Of all the events, movements, goings and comings, crimes and punishments, accidents and activities, births and deaths, everything that occurred on all of the planets on the dates of the bank robberies, out of all these possibilities there is only one thing that they have in common.”

  “Tell!” I commanded and all present at the table nodded in agreement.

  “I’ll tell. The circus was in town.”

  “James-you are not playing games with us.” There was a cold tone in Angelina’s voice.

  “Never, my dear mother. This is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

  “The same circus each time?” I asked.

  “No. I thought that at first myself. There were a number of different circuses involved.”

  “But they had something in common?” I asked.

  “The knife of your cold logic cuts deep, Dad. It appears that all of them employed, on the day of the robbery, the same circus act.”

  The room was so silent as we listened that you could have heard a syllable dropped.

  “Present on the planet at each theft was a man, an individual by the name of Puissanto, billed as the Strongest Man in the Galaxy.”

  “Do you know where he is now?”

  “No. He is resting. But I do know where he will be in about a month’s time. He will be heading the bill when Bolshoi’s Big Top comes to town.”

  “And where is town?”

  “On a distant planet I have never heard of, out in the wrong part of the galaxy, with the unattractive name of Fetorr. The city has the equally unattractive name of Fetorrscoria.”

  “Our next stop,” I said, climbing to my feet and leaving the cigar to die in the ashtray. “Start packing.”

  “Brilliant,” Angelina said, the scorn in her voice signifying the direct opposite.

  “Of course,” I said, sitting back down. “What would we do when we got there? Well, I know what we have to do. We all have to settle down quietly while I put Plan A into effect.”

  “Which is?” Angelina asked, now as confused as the rest.

  “I join the circus. We are certainly not going to learn anything by sitting in the audience. While I am doing that we put the rest of the operation on hold. James and Sybil, do I hear the sibilant hiss of your nanotechnology business calling to you?”

  “You do, Dad. This planet has been a lot of fun-but even the best vacation must end. You will be going to work now and I feel that we should do the same. But-even while it is back to work-we will keep the communications link open and will be with you instantly if you need us.”

  “Grateful thanks. Bolivar-does the rough outback of the stars call you?”

  “Not too loudly yet. Now that I am involved in banking I find it very interesting. I want to learn as much as I can, then make a little money to prove I know my business. And I want to know enough about the business so I can come to your aid with my know-how when you need it. Time enough after that for Sybill and me to get back to outer space.”

  “To work then!”

  This time when I jumped to my feet I stayed there.

  CHAPTER 3

  “And just what talents do you plan to present to this circus that will entice them to employ you? Acrobatics?” Angelina asked.

  “Not quite-although I could if I tried.”

  “I am sure that you could. Despite…”

  “Despite my advanced years?” I said in a cracked and ancient voice. Then leapt into the air and clicked my heels together five times before I landed. She applauded enthusiastically.

  “I think I will do something less strenuous.” I took a fivecredit coin from my pocket and let it roll from finger to finger across the back of my hand. “Magic. I have always been a keen amateur. And as a cardician-even more than that.”

  “Cardician? I thought they just called it cheating at cards?”

  “That is the technical term magicians use when referring to this particular skill. I will demonstrate.”

  I took a sealed deck of cards from the shelf and tore off the wrapper. Fanned them out, reassembled them, shuffled them enthusiastically and fanned them out again on the table, backs up.

  “Now choose a card, any card, that’s it. Look at it. Right.”

  I whipped up the cards and fanned them out again. “Put it back into the deck.”

  When she had done all this I gave the deck many good shuffles, then fanned them out-this time face up. “Will you kindly point to your chosen card.”

  She looked at the cards closely-then carefully looked again and shook her head.

  “It’s not there.”

  “Are you positive?”

  “Of course I am.”

  “Was your chosen card the King of Spades?”

  “It was! How did you know that?”

  “Because I see that card in the pocket of your skirt.”

  I reached in and took out the card and handed it to her.

  She gasped. “That’s my card. You really do magic-and have been hiding it from me all these years. And I thought you only cheated at cards.”

  I bowed and accepted her praise. “Magic had to look like magic. But it is hard work. First there is misdirection, where I see to it that you look only where I want you to. Then there is forcing-“

  “You didn’t force me to do anything.”

  “A technical term, meaning I did this trick in such a way that you took the card I wanted you to take. Then I watched as you put the card back into the deck. And marked the card by inserting my little finger next to it. Which you could not see because I made sure that I only showed you the back of the deck. Then I removed and palmed the card before I shuffled the deck. It was in my hand when I placed it into your pocket.”

  “I never saw it.”

  “You were never intended to. Then I removed the card from your pocket. Magic! End of the trick. But to be a stage magician I will have to be able to do a lot more than manipulate cards. I must now abandon my amateur status to become an even keener professional.”

  “A sound idea,” she said. “You have certainly worked magic in the past, cleaning out banks.” Then she smiled and clapped her hands with happiness. “And I shall be your beautiful assistant! All women dream of a career on the stage. Think of all the lovely costumes I will wear.”

  “I am thinking-and think very much of the idea. And I also think that it is time to get some more information on my new vocation.”

  Unhappily, it was not easy to come by. Magicians, down through the centuries, have been a close-mouthed lot. Passing their secrets on all too reluctantly, keeping the details of their trade very close to the chest. Despite the billions of entries in the databases I searched, I could find very little real information. Just card tricks and vanishing rabbits and things like that. I had the strong feeling that Bolshoi’s Big Top would sneer at my act if that was all that I could do.

  “Nothing,” I growled as I shouted at the computer to turn itself off. “Maybe it is the acrobat-way after all.”

  “Do not despair,” Angelina said, pouring me a glass of alcoholic despair-destroyer. I sipped at it and smiled thanks in her direction.

  “You are right. Worry not and put the old brain cells to work. If magic were that easy we would be up to our thighs in magicians. We are not. But there are magical acts on the gogglebox all of the time. I’ve watched them in awe. How do they do it? Or rather how did they ever learn to do it? Not from books and computer programs-I’ve checked that out. But they do learn. How?”

  “You mean who, don’t you?”

  “I do, I do!” I chortled as I sprang to my feet, finger raised in the air. “They learn from each other. Every sorcerer must have an apprentice. That is what I must be.”

  I turned to the familiar suitcase form of the Nanotechtric68X. “Awake, good computer,” I commanded.

  “But speak and I obey, oh master. “

  Angelina raised one lovely eyebrow. “You have been teaching this thing to be your electronic slave?”

  “Why not? Anything to keep the old ego happy.” I turned back to the suitcase. “Magicians, good magicians-galaxy famous magicians. Track them down and prepare a list of them.”

  The printout was humming away even before I had finished speaking. There were only six entries on the page. A very exclusive fraternity indeed. I spent a good hour preparing an irresistible sales pitch, listing my varied and convincing talents, and applying for the position of apprentice sorcerer. With the added inducement that I was prepared to pay vast sums for my education. When my missives were dispatched into the electronic void I finished my drink and cocked my head as I heard a distant digestive rumble.

  “Lunchtime,” I rumbled in echo. “Let us dine at some exclusive and hideously expensive restaurant while my applications are being processed. And return to find out who my mentor will be.”

  Dine we did, well and expensively, and were just signaling for the bill when Sybill appeared. Yes, it had to be Sybill because Sybil, her other self, had returned with James to Usti nad Labam to work with him on their mutual computer project.

  “Food or drink?” I said.

  “Thank you, no. Well, maybe a small bite and a drop of wine. Thank you.” She sipped and smiled. “I just grabbed a few minutes to talk while Bolivar attends a board meeting for our newly established private bank, Credit Dew. There are some investments we have been toying with.”

  “Investments? Perhaps I should consider something like that myself, with all the credits from Chaise just lying around.”

  “That’s just what Bolivar said. And he wasn’t too sure that your secret secret account was all that secret. So he transferred all your money here so he could watch it closely.”

  “How kind!”

  “He also used it to finance the establishment of Credit Dew.”

  A little too kind, I thought. But kept the thought to myself. I am sure that he knew what he was doing.

  “A little more wine.” I said and tipped a bit into each of our glasses. We all drank.

  “But you didn’t come here to talk about banking,” Angelina said.

  “You’re right. I have been thinking about Jim’s new career while Bolivar is busy making money. Through my Special Corps contacts I did a little more investigating of the circus. I did a little checking on the acts myself and have found one that was of great interest. Gar Goyle’s Freak Show. Intergalactic monstrosities.”

  “Doesn’t sound too attractive,” Angelina said. “I thought that sort of thing was illegal.”

  “It is-that is why I made some even more discreet inquiries through the Special Corps. It is all very legal-and interesting …”

  This caught my attention. “Interesting-in what way?”

  “I’m afraid you will have to find out for yourself. This is all I could uncover now. Plus the fact that Special Corps thinks that Gar Goyle can be trusted. If I find out anything else I’ll let you know. How are your magical studies going?”

  “We will know as soon as I get answers to some inquiries. I feel that I am on the cusp of an entirely new career.”

  “Best of luck.” She looked at her watch, touched the napkin to her lips. “Bolivar’s meeting should be done by now. I must fly. Bye.”

  Then she was away in a burst of enthusiasm. We finished our luncheon and returned, sated, to our rooms. Eager to find the response to my queries.

  Which was exactly nothing. Nor was it any better a day later. My letters had vanished into the interstellar void. Like magic. Then the message-received bell pinged and, with sudden joy, I lifted the sheet from the tray.

  Glanced at it and cursed fluently in Esperanto as I crumpled it and hurled it to the floor.

  “Fiegulo! Bastardego! Ekskrementkapo! “

  “I gather you are not too happy at the result?” Angelina said.

  When I answered her I had to speak through grated teeth. “I have never been so insulted in my life. Not only rejected but sneered at, put down, derided, despised…”

  “And all of the rest. Well the study of magic is obviously a very secretive thing. So what do you do next?”