"Oh, they're quite inconspicuous and convenient," he assured her. "We checked with the girls on that."
"I'll bet!" she said. "Did they okay the porgee pouch too?"
"Sure. Porgee doping is a big thing all over the Hub at the moment. Among the ladies anyway. Shows you're the delicate sort, or something like that. I forget what they said. Want to start carrying it?"
"Hand it over," Trigger said resignedly. "I did see quite a few pouches on the ship. Might as well get people used to thinking I've turned into a porgee sniffer."
Holati went back to the desk safe and took out a flat pouch, the length of his hand but narrower. He gave it to her. It appeared to be worked of gold thread; one side was studded with tiny pearls, the opposite surface was plain. Trigger laid the plain side against the cloth of her skirt, just below the right hip, and let go. It adhered there. She stretched her right leg out to the side and considered the porgee pouch.
"Doesn't look too bad," she conceded. "That's real porgee in the top section?"
"The real article. Close to nine hundred and fifty credits worth."
"Suppose somebody wants to borrow a sniff? Wouldn't be good to have them fumbling around the pouch very much!"
"They can't," said the Commissioner. "That's why we made it porgee. When you buy a supply, it has to be adjusted to your individual chemistry, exactly. That's mainly what makes it expensive. Try using someone else's, and it'll flip you across the room."
"Better get this adjusted to my chemistry then. I might have to take a demonstration sniff now and then to make it look right."