“Pegunungan Gradjugang-ouch!-It lies beyond the Tindjil Ocean.”
“Ah. So.” Sumu nodded wisely. One knew little about the dwellers on other continents. Their overlords sometimes came here, but only by air and only to visit the overlords of Kompong Timur. Poor folk rarely traveled far. One heard that strange ways of life had grown up under alien conditions. Doubtless generations of poor diet and insufficient sunlight had bleached this man’s people. “Why did you not seek me out as soon as you arrived? Anyone could have told you where I live.”
“I did not know the rule,” said Dominic pettishly. “I thought I was free to earn a few honest coins.”
“More than a few, I see,” Sumu corrected. “And is it honest to deny me my right? Well, ignorance may pass for an excuse this time. Let us count what you have gotten thus far today. Then we can decide on a proper weekly sum for you to contribute, as well as the fine for not reporting immediately.”
Pradjung grinned and snatched after Dominic’s purse. The tall man stepped back and cast it himself into Sumu’s lap. “Here, tuan,” he exclaimed. “Don’t trust this ugly man. He has reptile eyes. Count the coins yourself. But this is not one day’s take. It’s two days, yes, and a good part of one night. Ask in the square. They’ll tell you how long I worked.”
“Will they tell how much else you have hidden, begetter of worms?” sneered Pradjung
“Off with your garments! A fortune could lie in that turban.”
Dominic backed further. Pradjung signaled to the daggermen, who closed in on the storyteller and seized his arms. As he went to his knees, lest bones break, Pradjung kicked him in the stomach. “Strip,” said Pradjung. Sumu continued sorting coins into his sarong.
Dominic groaned. There proved to be nothing in his kilt except himself, but wound into the turban was a package. Pradjung unfolded it before Sumu’s eyes. An awed silence fell on the room.
The wrapping was a blouse: some fabric hitherto unheard of, colored like the palest dawn, fine enough to fold into cubic centimeters but utterly wrinkleproof. Inside the package lay a multiple-dialed watch of incredibly beautiful workmanship, and a wallet not made from leather or any recognized plastic. The wallet held cards and money, whose papery substance was equally strange, whose engraving was lovely but whose legends were in a peculiar form of the alphabet and an altogether foreign language.
VII
Sumu made a sign against evil. “Nine sticks of incense to the gods at Ratu Temple!” He swung on Dominic, who had been released and knelt shuddering. “Well?”
“Tuan!” Dominic flopped on his face. “Tuan, take all my cash!” he wailed. “I am a poor man and the humblest of your slaves. Give me back those valueless trinkets bequeathed me by my poor old mother!”
“Valueless, I think not.” Sumu mopped the sweat of excitement from his forehead. “We shall have a little truth out of you, storyteller.”
“Before the Three Headed One himself, you have the truth!”
“Come now,” said Sumu in his kindliest tone. “I am not cruel. I should not like to have you questioned. Especially since I would have to entrust the questioning to Pradjung, who seems to have taken a dislike to you.”
Pradjung licked his lips. “I know these stubborn cases, mighty master,” he said. “It may take me a while. But he will still be able to talk when he decides to. Come along, you!”
“Wait, wait, wait,” said Sumu. “Not that quickly. Give him a few swats of the cane across his feet and see if his tongue loosens. Every man deserves a chance to be heard, Pradjung.” Dominic beat his brow against the floor. “It is a family secret, nothing but a family secret,” he begged. “Your nobleness could not profit by hearing it.”
“If that is so, rest assured I shall keep your secret inviolate,” promised Sumu magnanimously. “Anyone here who cannot keep a secret goes straight into the canal.”
Pradjung, who saw an opportunity slipping past, seized the bastinado and applied it. Dominic cried out. Sumu told Pradjung to stop, and offered Dominic wine.
Eventually the story came out.
“My brother George found the ship,” Dominic said between gulps for air and gulps of drink. His hands trembled. “He was a timber cruiser, and often went far into the mountains. In one deep, misty ravine, he found a spaceship.”
“A ship from the stars?” Sumu made violent signs and promised another dozen joss sticks. He had heard of the Betelgeuseans, of course, in a vague way, and even seen a few of their goods. But nonetheless he bore a childhood of myth about the Ancestors, the Stars, and the Monsters, which a sketchy education had not removed.
“Just so, tuan. I do not know if the vessel came from the Red Star, whence they say Biocontrol receives visitors on certain nights, or from some other. It might even have been from Mother Terra, for this shirt fits me. It must have crashed out of control long ago, long ago. Jungle had covered it, but could not destroy the metal. Wild animals laired within. Doubtless they had eaten the bones of the crew, but they could not open the hatches to the holds. Those were not locked, however, only dogged shut. So my brother George went down and saw wonders beyond reckoning—”
It took half an hour to elaborate on the wonders.
“Of course, he could not carry such things on his back,” said Dominic. “He took only these articles, for proof, and returned home. It was his thought that he and I should raise enough money somehow for vehicles to get the cargo out. How, I knew not, for we were poor. But surely we would never tell our overlord, who would take all the treasure for himself! Long we discussed the matter in secret. George never told me where the ship lay.” Dominic sighed. “He knew me well. I am not a resolute man. The secret was safest with him.”
“Well?” Sumu dithered in his chair. “Well? What happened?”
“Ah, what happens all too often to poor folk. I was a tenant farmer of Proprietor Kepuluk. George, as I told you, was a timber cruiser for the master’s lumbering operations. Because of our scheming to get money, we neglected our work. Frequently our overseers reproved us with a touch of the electrostick. But the dream we had would not let us rest in peace. George was at last dismissed. He brought his family to live with me. But my plot of ground was so small it would barely support my own wife and children. We went swiftly into debt to Proprietor Kepuluk. George had a young and beautiful wife, whom Kepuluk seized for the debt. Then George went amok and fell upon Kepuluk. It took six men to drag him away.”
“So Djordju is dead?” cried an appalled Sumu.
“No. He was sentenced to enslavement. Now lie toils as a field hand on one of Kepuluk’s plantations. Of course, my farm was taken from me, and I must make my way as best I could. I found places for the women and children, then set out alone.”
“Why?” demanded Sumu.
“What was there for me in Pegunungan Gradjugang, except a lifetime’s toil for barely enough wages to buy my pills? I had always had a talent for storytelling, so I yarned my way to the ocean. There I got a scullery job on a watership bound for this continent. From Tandjung Port I came afoot to Kompong Timur. Here, I thought, I could make a living-even save a little money-and inquire with great discretion, until at last—”
“Yes? Yes? Speak up!”
Pradjung reached for the cane again, but Sumu waved him back. Dominic sighed heartbreakingly. “My tale is ended, tuan.”
“But your plan! What is it?”
“Ah, the gods hate me. It seemed easy enough, once. I would find a patron, a kind man who would not begrudge me a good payment and a position in his household, in exchange for what I could tell him. He must be rich, of course. Rich enough to buy George from Kepuluk and outfit an expedition under George’s guidance. Oh, my lord-” Dominic lifted streaming eyes-“do you perchance know of some wealthy man who would listen to my tale? If you could arrange it for me, I would reward you with half of what I was paid myself.”