THE ENCHANTED PRINCESS Jack Vance THE SLEEPING BEAUTY ASLEEP MEANT PAIN TO ONE MAN, WEALTH TO ANOTHER. AWAKE, SHE BROUGHT DEATH. JAMES AIKEN recognized the man at the reception desk as Victor Martinon, former producer at Pageant. Martinon had been fired in the recent retrenchment, and the headlines in Variety sent goose-flesh along every back in the industry. If flamboyant, money-making Matinon went, who was safe?
Aiken approached the desk, puzzled by Martinon’s presence at the Krebius Children’s Clinic. A versatile lover, Martinon never stayed married long enough to breed children. If Martinon were here on the same errand as his own—well, that was a different matter. Aiken felt a sharpening of interest.
“Hello, Martinon.”
“Hi,” said Martinon, neither knowing Aiken’s identity nor caring.
“I worked on Clair de Lune with you—built the Dreamboat sequence.” Clair de Lune was Martinon’s next to last picture.
“Oh, yes. Quite an effort. Still with Pageant?”
“I’m in my own lab now. Doing special effects for TV.”
“A man’s got to eat,” said Martinon, implying that Aiken now could sink no further.
Aiken’s mouth quivered, reflecting mingled emotions. “Keep me in mind, if you ever get back in pictures.”
“Yeah. Sure will.”
...
