His body had long since passed the comfort point, yet the sweat was still flooding from his pores, and the gentle zephyr from the air-conditioning seemed more like an autumn gale with a tang of winter in it. Chills ran his vertical length and radiated from his spine. Worse yet, as the paralysis drug took effect, he was even robbed of the pleasure of shivering. The chatter of his teeth stopped, but the swirling dankness flowed through his body unchecked.
The girl's voice paused a moment. "We are now entering maximum acceleration phase. It is suggested that you concentrate on sleep. We will continue the discussion when we reach free-flight."
Pauker gratefully tried to sink into the promised, narcotic slumber as his mattress became firmer and firmer under him, but it was long, miserable, frozen minutes before the ship's motion came to his aid and blacked him out.
Free-flight!
He snapped to consciousness and instantly recoiled from the discomfort. To his surprise it wasn't the cold, now, but a dry, throat-rasping, all-pervading heat that almost suffocated him. Sometime during his unconsciousness his body had overtaken the thermal adjustment lag and turned off the perspiration. Now he felt the ravages of an uncontrolled fever. His mind wandered and refused to admit him to the promised dream-state again. He thought he heard a voice. Yes, there was a voice, the voice of the woman again.
"We are in free-flight," she announced with cheerful redundancy. "Now you will begin to enjoy the full benefits of the rhythmic thermal changes, since you are all floating freely under the loose bindings of your couches. As we were discussing, the drug which—"
Again the voice cut off, but this time a male voice clicked in on the circuit. "Attention all male passengers. Now hear this, all male passengers: Will the gentleman who has a red scar on his left cheek please report to the purser immediately upon arrival at Marsfield? When you checked your bag you forgot to pick up your baggage check. Attention all—"
While the message was repeated, Pauker smiled grimly to himself with the memory of the shock he had received when the baggage man had appeared in the passageway. So this was the reason? Some blundering fool had walked off without his baggage check, and the attendant had rushed aboard in search of him.
He wondered how anyone could be so stupid. Of course, everyone didn't place the same value on his luggage.