"Want me to help change that tire?"
"Hell no. What do you want to do? Have the kid early? Why don't you go in the station and see what's there that we can use. Without the stationmaster, this place is finished, anyway."
"There should be a Highway Patrol copter out here sooner or later," she said. "The stationmaster probably had a check- in schedule with them that she won't be keeping now."
"So we'll hurry."
Still she hesitated. "Eli, what do you think of that guy, really?"
Eli shrugged. "I think he's okay. And I think he might not want to go home right now. I think he might start to see
Lorene as just what he needs."
She nodded. "That was the impression I got." She went into the station, finally. That was when Zeriam came over without Lorene to talk to Eli.
"You know she's trying to get me to join you," he said bluntly. "I know," Eli told him.
"What the hell would I be joining?"
Eli smiled. "A little nineteenth-century ranch in mountains you can't even see from here. Chickens, hogs, rabbits . . . The place will work your ass off. So will she, I expect."
The man did not smile. "How many others?" "One other. A woman."
"Three women? How the hell did you wind up with three women?"
Eli's smile vanished. "Accidentally," he said. "The way you wound up here accidentally."
They stared at each other for several seconds, Zeriam clearly not liking Eli's evasion, but not quite as willing to probe it as he had been. "So you live on a ranch with your harem. What do you need me for?"
"Nothing," Eli said. He jerked a thumb toward Lorene who waited beside the Tien Shan. "She needs you." "What about you?"
"I don't care. You're welcome as long as you'll share the work." "What about Lorene?"
"What about her?"
Silence.
Eli gave a short laugh. "I don't own anybody, man. People do what they want to. If she likes you, she likes you."
Zeriam spent several seconds squinting at him in the sun. "Why do I believe you?" he said finally. "After that shit with the car gang, why should I believe anybody?"
"You dump your garbage?" Eli asked. "The body? Yeah. Good shooting."
"Why don't you fuel up then. The ranch is a long way from here over a lot of lonely dirt roads."
They stared at each other for a moment longer, then Zeriam looked over at Lorene. She stood where she had been, waiting beside his truck, watching intently, and, though Zeriam did not realize it, listening.
Finally Zeriam went to her. She got into the truck with him and they drove around to the fuel lot.
PRESENT 18
Keira knew what she wanted.
She was afraid Eli would leave without giving it to her because she was young and ill. She was afraid touching would be enough for him. But he showed no signs of wanting to leave.
"Why?" he asked her, rubbing her bare arms beneath the caftan's loose sleeves. "I never tried so hard to spare someone. Why did you do it?"
She liked the way his hands felt. Not bruising or scratching. Just rubbing gently. If everything he'd told her was true, he
was enjoying it more than she was. She closed her eyes for a moment, wondering whether he really wanted his question answered. She did not think he did.
"I didn't want to be alone," she said. That was true, as far as it went. "And you. Why didn't you aim that guy Kaneshiro at me when he asked about me?"
His expression hardened and his hands closed around her arms. She smiled. "I think I want to answer your question honestly," she said. "I think I can say it to you."
She hugged him, then backed away, escaping his hands. The hands twitched and he took a step toward her. "Wait," she said. "Only for a moment. Bear it for a moment while I tell you."
He stood still.
She took a deep breath, met his eyes. "I think . . ." she began, "I know part of the reason I want you is that I'm ... dying. But it is you I want. Not just a warm body. Before you I didn't want anyone. There were some guys who wanted me, even after I got sick, but I never ... I thought I would never . . ." She floundered helplessly, unable to finish, wishing she had not begun. At least he did not laugh at her.
"You might die," he said. There was no conviction in his voice. "Stephen Kaneshiro needs a woman whose chances are better. And you ... I wanted you with me."
She let out a breath she had not known she was holding and tried to go back to him.
"Wait a minute," he said, holding her at arm's length. "Maybe I have a couple of things to say to you, too. I want you to know me. God knows why. It's always been to my advantage not to have people know me that well at first."
"You know why," she said quietly.
He could not keep his hands off her so he settled for holding one of her hands. "You have a son," she said. "Who's his mother?"
"Meda." "Meda?"
"She and I have two sons." "You're married then?"
He smiled. "Not formally. Besides, I have four more kids by other women."
She stared at him, first in surprise, then imagining what her mother would have said about him. "I've heard about . . . men who do that," she said.
He smiled grimly. "Your mama told you to keep the hell away from sewer rats like that, didn't she?"
"At least." She wondered why she did not pull her hand away from him. Six children by five different women. Good
God. "Why?" she demanded.
"Young women survive," he said. "Right now, we have the best balance we've ever had between men and women. Kaneshiro is the only extra man we've ever had. Now he's not extra any longer."
"But I am."
"You and your father, because you're related." "So when women are extra, you get them."
"That's exactly right. And when men are found for them, I give them up. We began that way out of biological necessity. I was alone with three women. The organism doesn't permit celibacy for any reason other than isolation."
"But . . . What about Meda?"
"What about her?"
"Why do you have two kids with her?"
"She's as close to a wife as I'm ever likely to get." He looked a little wistful. "We always get back together." "But . . . right now, she's with my father."
"Yes."
"You don't care?"
"I care-though not as much as I would if she weren't already a couple of months pregnant. She's taking care of your father and I'm taking care of you."
And Rane was alone, Keira thought. At least Eli had said she was. Keira wondered why she tended to believe him so easily. She wondered why the things he was telling her were not more disturbing. He was everything her mother had warned her against and more. And she did not doubt that her mother had been right. Yet all she regretted was that she
would not be able to keep him. Her own feelings were so irrational, they frightened her.
"If I told you I didn't want to be part of your harem," she said, "would you go away?" She felt the hand that held hers stiffen. "I don't think so," he said. "I don't think I could."
She thought if she were ever going to be afraid of him, now would be the time. "Let go of me," she whispered.
His grip on her tightened, became painful, then was suddenly released. His hands were shaking. He looked at them with amazement. "I didn't even think I could do that." He swallowed. "I can't keep doing it."