Soon a large, single-story building came into view with a long, vertical sign running down the left side of the entrance. In the yellowish light from the lanterns hanging from the eaves, Steve could read, PROSPERITY INN. Similar light illuminated the shades on the windows.
“Which one of us should make the arrangements?” Hunter asked Marcia.
“Steve,” said Marcia. “You and Jane are masquerading as foreigners, and in this society-and as Steve’s wife-I would not take that kind of initiative while he’s here. But we’ll all go in together.”
“Okay,” said Steve. He led them inside.
Small flames burned in brass oil lamps resting on wooden tables, lighting the room. A portly man with gray hair hurried forward to greet them. He wore a light blue robe similar to Steve’s.
“Welcome, friends. Welcome.” He bowed at the waist.
Remembering Marcia’s briefing on the subject earlier, Steve imitated the man’s bow.
“You are together? Two families?” The innkeeper looked in surprise at Jane and Hunter but said nothing else.
“Yes,” said Steve. “My wife and I are hosting two guests from another country. I am a scholar seeking an appointment.”
“Ah!” The innkeeper nodded eagerly. “Perhaps you would like a private bungalow, then? We have several in the courtyard behind the main building for special guests. I can offer you a bungalow with two bedrooms.”
Steve glanced back at Hunter, who nodded.
“How much?”
“One silver per night.”
Steve had no idea if that was a fair price or not, but he suspected the innkeeper assumed he would bargain. Casually, he glanced back at Marcia, who shook her head slightly. She stroked her hair with two fingers and wiggled them a little.
“Too high,” Steve said firmly to the innkeeper. “Two.” He had no idea what this meant, but it was the best he could do without revealing his ignorance.
“Two-coppers?” The innkeeper folded his arms. “No. Six coppers.”
Now Steve knew where he stood. “Two coppers,” he said confidently.
“Hm, well, maybe five. This is an entire private bungalow, you know.”
“Two.”
The innkeeper hesitated, glancing at all of them. “Four coppers.”
“Two.”
“No. Four.”
Steve turned and walked back toward the door, grinning when he had his back to the innkeeper. “Come on.” Without looking behind him, Steve opened the door and walked back outside. The sound of footsteps told him that the rest of the team was following him without speaking. Then, as he expected, another set of footsteps ran after them.
“Fine, fine. Two coppers a night for my special guests,” the innkeeper called.
Steve stopped and looked back. The innkeeper smiled eagerly, gesturing for them to return. The team members waited for Steve’s reaction.
“Two coppers,” the innkeeper repeated.
“Fine,” Steve echoed. “We will stay.”
The innkeeper led them through the main building and out a rear door. It opened on a courtyard enclosed on all four sides by a high masonry wall. Several bungalows stood lined up in the courtyard; in the shadows, Steve could not see how many. Carrying a small brass oil lamp, the innkeeper led them to the first bungalow. He lit the hanging lamps over the door and then two more small brass lamps inside.
Steve glanced around inside. It was clean and nicely furnished. The tables and chairs were made of plain but highly polished wood, intricately carved in patterns with tight curls. The innkeeper led them to both bedrooms; the heavy bed frames were made of the same kind of wood, and quilted cotton comforters covered them. A small fireplace, which they would not need, warmed the bungalow in winter.
“It is adequate.” Steve tried to sound unenthusiastic, to maintain his bargaining position in the future.
Hunter paid the innkeeper without speaking.
The innkeeper walked backward out of the door, bowing to them repeatedly, and closed it behind him.
4
Steve let out a breath of relief and grinned at the others. “I’m glad my bargaining worked out. I didn’t know what I was doing.”
“You got my signal,” said Marcia. “Very good. When we know the proper price of goods and services, bargaining is easy enough.”
“We aren’t cheating him, are we?” Jane asked. “We’re only paying a small fraction of what he wanted.”
“No,” said Marcia. “He wouldn’t have accepted if he could get a better price from someone else. It’s late now and this bungalow would probably go empty tonight without us. Besides, the economy isn’t strong here right now.”
“Huh?” Steve was surprised. “I thought Kublai Khan was some kind of great benevolent dictator.”
“For his time, he was very enlightened,” said Marcia. “But the Mongol emperors were not good rulers economically. The first issue of paper money from Kublai Khan, made in 1260, was recalled three years ago in 1287, on a one-to-five basis-your money was only worth twenty percent of its face value. Another depreciation of the same magnitude will happen again in less than twenty years-”
“So money is tight for ordinary people,” Steve interrupted quickly. “Okay, I get it.”
“I’m tired after that walk,” said Jane, just as fast. “I’m ready for bed, I think.” She glanced at Marcia warily. “How about you?”
“Well, yes, I am, too. It’s rather late by our schedule, isn’t it?”
I suggest you two take the larger bedroom,” said Hunter. “Steve can have the smaller one. I shall spend the night here in the front room.”
“Always on the lookout for the unforeseen danger.” Steve grinned. He took his change of clothes for the morning out of the bag, then handed the bag to Jane. “Well, I’m ready for a good night’s sleep, too. Good night.”
Dr. Wayne Nystrom landed flat on his back at dusk on the edge of some plowed field. The ground and air temperature were warm; this felt like a summer evening, which was what he expected. Next to him, he could see R. Ishihara sitting up. They both wore the tunics, leggings, and boots that Ishihara had originally designed for their trip to Roman Germany in A.D. 9. Wayne also still wore a long fur cloak that he had acquired, though Ishihara had traded his cloak away on their most recent trip to the area around Moscow in December 1941.
Wayne pushed himself up into a sitting position and saw a group of ten or twelve people standing about ten meters away, staring at them in shock. They wore thin shirts and trousers, and carried hoes, rakes, and scythes over their shoulders. Their faces were shadowed by basketlike hats made of woven grass.
With a sudden chorus of frightened shouts, the entire group turned and ran.
Wayne glanced around in other directions. Only a few meters away, an unpaved road led to a city that was visible in the distance. Many people were on it, going both to and from the city. “What do we do now? They saw us appear like magic.”
“I do not know,” said Ishihara, as he stood up. “Have we arrived in the right location? If not, we can simply move in time again and hope that seeing us arrive will have no serious effect on them.”
“This looks like the right place,” said Wayne, getting to his feet. “At least, I’d say that group is a bunch of Chinese peasants. And the weather feels right.”
“I agree.”
“The measurements I took from the console on the time travel sphere indicated that I should set the controls for the outskirts of Beijing in 1290,” said Wayne. “If that city’s Beijing, then this is where we want to be.”