"No," said Courtcour.
"Why not?"
"He would not."
"That is no answer."
"Yes it is. Think about it. Would _you?_"
"I do not trust him," said Green Green. "He was normal when I brought him back, but I believe that perhaps Shandon has reached him."
"No," said Courtcour. "I am trying to help you."
"By telling Sandow he is going to die?"
"Well, he is."
Green raised his hand, and suddenly he was holding my gun, which he must have teleported from my belt, in the same fashion as he had obtained the tapes. He fired twice and handed it back to me.
"Why did you do that?"
"He was lying to you, trying to confuse you. Trying to destroy your confidence."
"He was once a close associate of mine. He had trained himself to think like a computer. I think he was trying to be objective."
"Get the tape and you can resurrect him."
"Come on. I've got two hours and fifty-eight minutes."
We walked away.
"Should I not have done that?" he asked me, after a time.
"No."
"I am sorry."
"Great. Don't kill anybody else unless I ask you to, huh?"
"All right. --You have killed many people, have you not, Frank?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Them or me, and I'd rather it was them."
"So?"
"You didn't have to kill Bodgis."
"I thought--"
"Shut up. Just shut up."
We walked on, passing through a cleft of rock. Tendrils of mist snaked by, touched our garments. Another shadowy figure stood off to the side, at the place where we emerged upon a downward-sloping trail.
"... Coming to die," she said, and I stopped and looked at her.
"Lady Karle."
"Pass on, pass on," she said. "Hasten to your doom. You could not know what it means to me."
"I loved you once," I said, which was not the right thing to say at all.
She shook her head.
"The only thing you ever loved--besides yourself-- was money. You got it. You killed more people than I know of to keep your empire, Frank. Now there has finally come a man who can take you. I am proud to be present at your doom."
I turned on the torch and shone it upon her. Her hair was so red and her features so white... . Her face was heart-shaped and her eyes were green, as I remembered them. For a moment, I ached for her.
"What if I take _him?_" I asked.
"Then I'm probably going to be yours again for awhile," she replied, "but I hope not. You are evil and I want you to die. I'd find a way myself, if you were to have me again."
"Stop," said Green Green. "I brought you back from the dead. I brought this man here to kill him. I was usurped by a human being who, fortunately or unfortunately, is possessed of a similar intention with respect to Sandow. But Frank and I have our fates cast together now. Consider me. I restored you and I will preserve you. Help us to get at our enemy and I will reward you."
She moved out of the circle of light and hen laughter came down upon us.
"No," she called out. "No, thank you."
"I once loved you," I said.
There was silence, then, "Could you do it again?"
"I don't really know, but you mean something to me--something important."
"Pass on," she said. "All debts be canceled. Co to Shandon and die."
"Please," I said. "Once upon a time, when I held you it meant much to me. Lady Karle, I have never stopped caring for you, even after you left. And it was not I who broke the Ten of Algol, though this is often said."
"It was you."
"I think I could convince you that it was not."
"Don't bother trying. Pass on."
"All right," I said. "I won't stop, though."
"What? Stop what?"
"Caring for you, some," I said.
"Pass on. Please pass on!"
And we did.
All that time we had been speaking her language-- Dralmin--and I hadn't even realized that I had switched from English. Funny.
"You have loved many women, haven't you, Frank?" asked Green Green.
"Yes."
"Were you lying to her--about caring for her?"
"No."
We followed the trail until I could see the lights of the chalet before/below me. We continued in that direction, and a final figure appeared, drew near.
"Nick!"
"That's right, mister."
"It's me--Frank!"
"By God, I think it is. Come closer, huh?"
"Sure. Here's a light." I spilled it all over myself so that he could see.
"Jesus! It's really you!" he said. "That guy down there is a nut, you know, and he's after you."
"Yeah, I know."
"He wanted me to help get you, and I told him to go indulge in auto-eroticism. He was mad. We had a fight. I busted his nose and got the hell out. He didn't come after me, though. He's tough."
"I know."
"I'm going to help you get him."
"Okay."
"But I don't like that guy you're with."
Nick, all out of the past and storming... . It was great.
"What do you mean?"
"He's the one responsible for the whole thing. He brought me back, and the others. He's a sneaky son of a bitch. If I were you, I'd take him out of the picture real quick."
"We're allies now, he and I."
Nick spat.
"I'm going to get you, mister," he said to Green Green. "When this whole thing is over, you're mine. Remember those days when you questioned me? It wasn't fun. --And now, my turn will come."
"All right."
"No, it isn't! It's not all right at all. You called me 'Shorty,' or the Pei'an equivalent thereof, you dumb vegetable! When I get my turn, I'll roast you! I'm glad I'm alive again, and I guess I owe that to you. But I'll croak you, bastard! You've got it coming, and you'd better believe it. I'll take you with anything available."
"I doubt it, little man," Green Green said.
"Let's wait and see," I said.
So Nick joined us, walking on the other side of me from Green Green.
"Is he down there now?" I asked.
"Yes. Do you have a bomb?"
"Yes."
"That would probably be the best way. Make sure he's inside and lob it in through the window."
"Is he alone?"
"Well-- No. But it wouldn't exactly be murder. Once you get the tapes you can bring back the girl."
"Who is she?"
"Her name is Kathy. I don't know her."
"She was my wife," I said.
"Oh. Well, I guess that idea is out. We have to go in."
"Perhaps," I said. "If we have to, I'll take care of Shandon and you get Kathy out of the way."
"He wouldn't hurt her."
"Oh?"
"It's been several months since we woke up, Frank. We didn't know where we were or why. And this green guy said he didn't know any more about it than we did. For all we knew we were really dead. We only found out about you when he and Mike had the argument. Green dropped his guard one day and Mike picked his brains, I guess. Anyhow, Mike and the girl--Kathy, yes--sort of have a thing going between them. I guess they're in love."
"Green, why didn't you tell me this?"
"I did not deem it important. Is it?"
I didn't answer because I didn't know. I thought quickly. I leaned my back against a rock and pushed the gas pedal of my mind to the floor. I had set out to find and kill an enemy. Now he stood by my side while I sought a different enemy in his stead. Now to find out that he was shacking up with the resurrected wife I'd come to rescue . .. This did change things. How, I was not sure. If Kathy was in love with him, I was not about to burst in and shoot him down in front of her. Even if he were just using her, even if he didn't care anything for her, I could not do that--not with him meaning something to her. It seemed that Green Green's earlier suggestion was the only thing left--to contact him and try to buy him off. He had a new power and a pretty girl. Add to that a wad of money, and he might be persuaded to lay off. It still troubled me, though, that he had tried to kill me with his hands.