Ride the Star Winds by A. Bertram Chandler Page A

Colonel that I am making my own arrangements. Oh, and I’d like a crew list.”
    “A crew list? ”
    “A list of all the Residence staff. Age, sex, birthplace, national and/or planetary origin, qualifications, if any, etc., etc., and etc.”
    “Very good, Your Excellency. Will that be all?”
    “Yes, thank you.”
    When the ADC and the secretary were gone the majordomo asked, “Will you require my services any further, Your Excellency?”
    “No, thank you, Mr. Wong. You may leave. And you, Su Lin.”
    She objected. “But, Your Excellency, I am your body servant. I am to serve you in all ways.”
    “It is customary among our people, sir,” said Wong Lee. “There is the help to be given to a great man in the removal of his formal attire and the donning of other ceremonial clothing. There is the bringing of refreshment when he so desires it. There is. . . .”
    Meanwhile Grimes had succeeded in getting his pipe out of a pocket in his too-tight-fitting trousers and, after another little struggle, his tobacco pouch. He filled the vile brier and was patting his coat pockets in a vain search for a box of the old-fashioned matches that he preferred to other means of ignition.
    And then Su Lin was holding a golden lighter, a miniature flame thrower from which issued a jet of incandescence. Grimes hated having his pipe lit for him but submitted to her ministrations. If he refused to submit to other, more intimate ones he would be likely to hurt her feelings. He would just have to see to it that the ministrations were not too intimate. During his Survey Service career he had always despised commanding officers who had engaged in liaisons with their personal stewardesses. (He was, in some ways, a snob; he had never shied away from the occasional affair with female shipmates who held commissioned rank.)
    Wong Lee bowed deeply and glided away.
    Grimes said to the girl, “Lin—or should it be Su?”
    “Whichever pleases Your Excellency.”
    “All right. Su. Please wait in the sitting room while I get undressed and showered.”
    “But I am your body servant, Your Excellency.”
    Already she was helping him out of his tail coat and was loosening the cravat about his neck. He let her go ahead with it. After all, he thought, this was the girl’s job, one for which she had been trained. And, he admitted, he liked being pampered, especially by attractive women. Her nimble fingers coped expeditiously with studs and buttons. (Why could not the items of formal dress be secured by seal seams?)
    Surprisingly soon he was naked, unembarrassed but determined that things would go no further. He walked to the open door of the bathroom, into the shower cubicle. Before he could put a hand to the controls a slim, bare arm slid past his shoulder and a long, scarlet-nailed finger pushed the warm button. He felt smooth, soft nudity against his back. He turned to face the girl and said, “I am quite capable of washing myself. Su Lin. Please wait for me in the bedroom.”
    Then, lest the order be misconstrued, he added, “And get dressed.”
    She stepped away from him and bowed, saying, her voice expressionless, “As Your Excellency pleases.”
    She turned gracefully and glided away from him; her smoothly working buttocks were like peaches poised on the long, slender (but not too slender) stems of her legs.
    Feeling excessively virtuous Grimes continued with his shower. The water temperature was just right. He pushed the detergent button, then the one labeled scrubbers. The soft brushes worked up a scented lather all over his body. He thought that her hands would have made an even better job of it. Although the feeling of virtue persisted he was beginning to feel something of a bloody fool. But one of his own rules, which he was determined not to break, was NEVER PLAY AROUND WITH THE HIRED HELP.
    “You stinking snob!” he muttered.
    And, talking of stinks, he would have to get the detergent dispenser charged with something less redolent of a