“Nobody paid me!” he replied. “And I'm not here as an agent of the Chosen!"
“You aren't under the Anointed's protection?"
“No!"
“I didn't think you'd be stupid enough to come back here any other way. If you're not here as a foreign agent, then you're still a True Worder, and a traitor. Will you insist on a trial, or can we just get right on with the hanging?"
“Darn it, I'm not a traitor!"
“Oh, come on, John!"
“I'm not! I made mistakes-bad mistakes-but I'm not a traitor!"
The two men stared at one another for a long moment; then Habakkuk demanded, “Well, if you aren't here as an envoy for the Chosen, why are you here? Were you just coming home?"
“No,” John admitted. “I am an envoy, but not for the Chosen."
“Who, then?"
“The Free Trade Federation."
Habakkuk looked utterly blank. “Who?"
“The Free Trade Federation,” John insisted. “It's… well, an alliance. Intended to counter the Heavener protectorate. Our base is in Savior's Grace, up in Isachar."
“I never heard of it."
“We're still pretty new-but we've signed up the Chosen…"
“I knew it!"
“Wait…"
“I knew you were working for the Chosen!"
“Darn it, I am not!” John was infuriated. Habakkuk had always had a tendency to hang onto ideas that had outlived their usefulness; John had tolerated it before, but never before had one of those ideas been directed against him. “I'm working for ITD!"
Habakkuk stared at him for a moment. “Get your story straight, John,” he said at last. “Who's Ahtedeh? And you said you worked for this federation."
“I said I was here on their behalf, not that I worked for them."
“Not much of a difference from where I sit."
“There is, though. I work for the Interstellar Trade and Development Corporation; it's an organization that competes with the People of Heaven back on Earth. I brought some of them to Godsworld to give the Heaveners a little of their own medicine. The corporation is called ITD for short, and ITD runs the Free Trade Federation, which is based in Savior's Grace, and which has signed up the Chosen as a client state, just the way the Heaveners signed up you folks."
“You work for Earthers?"
“Yes-Earthers, but not the Heaveners."
“Earthers are Earthers, John; I thought you hated them all for the pagans they are."
“I hate the Heaveners for coming in here and destroying what we had on Godsworld, corrupting the people and usurping power and destroying my homeland. If I have to work with Earthers to fight them, I will."
“How long have you been working for the Earthers? Were they the ones who paid you to attack the Heaveners instead of the Chosen?"
“Nobody paid me to do that, Hab! It was a mistake!"
Habakkuk stared at him.
“Look, I've been working for ITD for about a month now-that's all."
Habakkuk stared for a moment longer, leaning back in his chair. Then, abruptly, he leaned forward across the desk.
“You swear you weren't paid to betray us?"
“I swear it, by God and Jesus."
“All right, then, I believe you-I think. What did you come here for?"
“To trade-the Free Trade Federation wants to trade with you."
“We're part of the Heavener protectorate, you know."
“Yes, of course I know that, but you can still trade with us, can't you? Anything the Heaveners can sell you, we can sell you-and probably at a better price."
“I'm no trader."
“I know that-but you're an Elder."
“True enough. All right, keep talking."
“Let me get my assistant up here; she's the expert."
“She? You mean that woman isn't just baggage?"
“That's Premosila Kim, our top salesperson,” John said proudly.
Habakkuk sat back and stared in astonishment.
It took four days of haggling to arrange for a caravan's reception; John stayed quietly in the background while his companions handled the details.
After the initial explanations were made, Habakkuk, too, stayed in the background, letting the other Elders handle things; his specialty was the military, and he left other matters to other people. Once, on the second day, he came and sat beside John throughout a long debate, but did not speak; the coldness between the two men had not been completely dispelled.
On the third day he did speak, remarking casually, “That woman's quite a talker; when you brought her here I thought you'd gone mad, putting so much faith in a woman."
John nodded. “She's smart, all right."
“She says you're second in command of ITD's entire force on Godsworld,” Habakkuk continued.
“I thought I was third,” John replied truthfully, “but I reckon I might be wrong.” He had never inquired as to how he stood relative to Kwam?.
Habakkuk nodded silently, accepting the information. After a long pause he said, “Then I don't guess you plan to come back here again."
John thought long and hard before finally replying, “No, I guess I don't."
He had never thought about that, never planned that far ahead. He had only been concerned with opposing the Heaveners, never worrying about what he, personally, would do when he no longer had a part to play in that opposition. Now that he did think about it, though, he knew he would never be happy returning to the People of the True Word and Flesh. They would never again wage war upon their neighbors, he was certain; the spirit had been destroyed, the steel stripped from their souls, by their crushing defeat at the hands of the People of Heaven. Their empire had been swallowed up by the protectorate, and John could not believe that it would ever again be the proud and independent power it had once been.
That was no place for a man like himself.
“Reckon it's just as well,” Habakkuk said. “You aren't real popular around here, traitor or not."
John nodded. That, too, was true.
When the negotiations were finished he signaled the airship, eager to return home-home to the ITD headquarters in Savior's Grace.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit."-Job 27:4
After the Chosen and the True Worders, John spent several weeks visiting various old allies, accompanied by ITD salespeople, stopping back at Savior's Grace every so often for more supplies and to report back to Blessing. Several tribes had agreed to open trade with ITD, which was, for once, all John was asking for-no military commitments or exclusive contracts.
He had made a good trip through eastern Reuben and was just off the airship, bound for Blessing's office, when someone called to him from across the landing field.
He stopped and looked; a woman was waving at him from beyond the fence.
“John! Over here!” she called.
Puzzled, John turned aside, motioning to the two sales representatives who had left the airship with him to go on without him. He strode quickly to the fence.
The voice and figure had been familiar; the woman was Miriam Humble-Before-God.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“I came to see you,” she answered. “And maybe Kwam?."
“Why?” John could guess why; she was probably renewing her drive for vengeance against him, and hoping to revive her friendship-if that was what it had been-with Kwam?.
“Ms. Dawes sent me."
He had not expected that. “Oh?” he said.
“Yes. Can we go somewhere else, somewhere more comfortable?"
“I have an office in the headquarters here."