'I just wanted to find out how it feels to kiss an Earthman,' she said.
She reached out a hand and ran it over his hair.
'Also, I was curious about that. It feels so strange. But good.'
'Maybe it'll give you luck,' he said. 'In the old days, white people would rub a black's wool. They did it for good luck.'
'That's strange.'
'Well, now you've kissed an Earthman, how did it feel?’
'Very exciting. Almost too much so. But then I haven't kissed anyone but my relatives for two years. I'm getting very passionate. And I have been reprimanded for being too bold. But I'm not a bad woman. I just couldn't help myself.'
'I've never kissed a Martian before,' he said.
He paused.
'We could go into the field.’
She blushed again, but she smiled a moment after.
'If we did that, we'd have to get married.'
'I won't tell anybody.'
'But I'd know. Anyway, I'm not in love with you. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. Only...'
'Don't apologise. It was wonderful while it lasted. But I hope you don't tease other men like that. You might get raped.'
'Only an evil man would do that. And he'd get sent to She'ol.'
'Where's that?'
She shuddered.
'I don't want to talk about that. Please, let's drive on.'
'As you wish.’
After a minute, he said. 'This is easily the most moral society in the solar system. Or the strictest, anyway. Yet basic human nature must be the same everywhere. How many of your brides are pregnant before the ceremony?'
She laughed. 'Oh, it's been estimated that about one-fourth are. But no woman is ever shamed. She is never rejected by the man responsible. He wouldn't dare.'
'I would think that that'd make for a lot of unhappy marriages.'
'No. Why should it?'
He didn't think he had the answer to that. He'd have to know even more about these people's attitudes before he could argue about this. Terrestrial conditions were obviously not always, or not often, like those here.
She pointed to the sun.
'He wouldn't like it.'
'Ah, he! But why should fear of him make for happiness?'
'We love him,' she said. 'We would adore him if he would permit it. But he keeps warning us that he is not the Merciful One.'
Orme decided to change the subject. All this talk, though informative, was irrelevant to his purpose. Since she was so frank, why shouldn't he be? And perhaps surprise might work.
He said, 'By the way, where is the entrance to the tunnels that lead to the spaceship?'
'Over there.'
She pointed past him at the blue wall of the cavern. He followed the invisible extension of her finger, but he could not see anything significant.
'If you'll drive to the road that parallels this one five miles from here, and then go straight towards the wall, you'll come to the road that winds up the side. Then you'll come to a shelf of rock on which will be a small building striped blue and red. Behind it is the entrance.'
How easy it had been. Perhaps too easy.
'Is it a guardhouse?'
'No. Why should there be guards?'
Was she putting him on? Or did she really believe that the Earthmen would no more think of escape than a fat steer in a lush meadow? Did the authorities believe that?
'If you get lost, you can ask directions at the village of Gamaliel. Slow down, please. That's Wang Ben-Hebhel's farm. I teach his son and daughter.'
Orme turned on to the cement-paved horseshoe-shaped driveway and stopped in front of the house. Like most of the residences it was of wood and seven-sided. (The number seven had great symbolic meaning in this culture.) It was a storey and a half tall, and the wood composing it would be, he knew, very hard (of Krsh origin) and very thin. The boards were vertical, and there were big windows everywhere. The pagoda-like roof was red; a light-blue veranda surrounded the house. The eaves were very broad because of the Jewish tradition that, if a man fell off the roof, no blood should touch the house itself.
A big animal that looked like a black wolf, but whose ancestors had come from Krsh, rose from the veranda floor and chirruped loudly. A moment later two youngsters, about ten and thirteen, ran out. A slim dark woman, a beauty, followed them a few seconds later.
All three looked surprised on seeing Orme. When Gulthilo introduced him - as if they didn't know who he was - they smiled broadly and seemed genuinely delighted. Gulthilo thanked him for the ride, at the same time giving him an enigmatic look. Apparently, he was dismissed. But before he could turn away for the car, she said, 'Wait a minute,' and she rattled off Krsh to the woman, Ester.
Gulthilo said, 'Are you hungry?'
'I did skip lunch, but...'
'You're invited to eat with us. Please accept.'
'With you?'
'Yes. Ester told me she just heard over the TV that the Council has decided that you Terrans may eat at our tables. You aren't able to eat unfit food now since your provisions ran out, and there's no harm in eating with us. Of course, this applies only to ordinary meals. Feast days and holy days are out for you. And you must observe the rules.'
'It's nice not to be treated like a pariah,' Orme said.
He thanked her and followed them through a wide doorway on the sides of which were mezuzahs, little boxes containing holy writings. The only residences on Mars that did not have them were the two in which the Earth people lived. The first room was tall and airy. The wall boards were painted alternately in pale white and pale blue. No wallpaper. From the storey-and-a-half-high ceiling hung three large chandeliers of cut quartz, each bearing six huge electric lights. The only wall decorations were two big, very thin TV sets and a gigantic spear on brackets. Every household had at least one such weapon. It had been an ancient Krsh custom for the father to give his son this ceremonial spear when he got married. The humans had adopted this custom about the time the sixth cave was hollowed out.
The floor was polished mahogany with bright patterned throw rugs here and there. The furniture consisted of a very large table in the centre, five sofas, some small sidetables, a lectern, and a huge desk. The latter had at each corner a tall round post on which were carved six-pointed stars and floral designs.
The room led directly into a square central court. Every room had access to the court, a most charming place. Polished granite slabs formed its floor. In the centre was a large seven-sided pool from the centre of which there were openings in the floor from which grew twenty-foot-high trees with wide-reading branches. Yellow and scarlet canarylike birds sang or twittered in the branches or pecked at purple, apple-sized, pear-shaped fruit.
In one corner a lion-coloured cat the same size as its Terrestrial counterpart watched her three kittens play. Its great ears and facial markings and large green eyes were lynxish.
Ester led the way along the edge of the court to the other end of the square. Here they entered a hallway, where he was shown a large bathroom. After closing the door, he relieved himself and washed his face and hands. The bathtub was large enough to hold three people comfortably and was cut out of a single block of glossy black basalt.
He joined the others, who had also washed, and they led him into a gigantic kitchen with a fireplace big enough to roast a calf. It didn't look as if it was used much, however. One wall contained racks of knives, saws, cleavers, and table utensils. Another held dishes, pots, and kettles. A big chopping block stood by the sink. In one corner was a large electric range with a microwave oven above it. There were also a dishwasher, two towering refrigerators, and, in the centre of the room, a table large enough to seat twenty or so. It was set, however, for six.