She held her hands over her ears and said indignantly, "Please, Jak, save your vulgarities for the games."
"I'm going with you," I grated. "I don't trust that guy with my woman."
She flared up at that. "Your woman! Let me tell you, Jak Demsi, when you begin to display the cultural achievements of Alger Wilde, you may begin, just begin, mind you, to think of me as your woman, as you so crudely put it. Meanwhile, I have no desire to link myself with an ignoramus. Besides, I'm beginning to believe that you have no interest in cultural pursuits. You've merely deceived me these past months with pretended...."
"Aw, Suzi," I began.
I had trouble enough raising credits for my fare, but more still getting last minute reservations on the crowded excursion liner to Mars. It took some string pulling on my manager's part to get me the tickets. Nobody who can raise the credits would dream of missing the Interplanetary Meet, and every spacer to Mars was packed.
Suzi was surprised when I stepped up to her table in the spacer's lounge. At least, her eyebrows raised. The little minx was as pretty as a Venusian rose-orchid. She was sitting with Alger Wilde, a makron from the word glorm.
"Hi," I said, using a prehistoric formal salutation in hopes of pleasing her with my knowledge of olden times.
"By Jove," Alger Wilde exclaimed. "If it isn't Jak Demsi." He added, smirking, "Pardon the expression. Jove was an ancient deity. I sometimes slip and use such terms."
Did he think I was stupid? Hadn't I been reading up on all that stuff for months? I sat down casually in an empty acceleration chair.