"As an example?" queried Marot.
"She should be the greatest xenologist in the galaxy. But a xenologist should know how to be quietly inconspicuous—to blend into his background. Lish is about as inconspicuous as a sunflower in a coal scuttle. She's also bossy, dogmatic, contentious, and hot-tempered. She has a touch of the missionary attitude; instead of just accepting the Krishnans as they are and studying them, she will try to set them right and convert them to Terran ideals. As a result, she's persona non grata in several Krishnan nations, and she's lucky she hasn't been killed."
"Without doubt you have reason. It is also plain to the eye that you and she are not—how shall I say—not altogether emotionally detached."
"No, worse luck. I'm afraid the old fires are just banked, not extinguished."
"Fire banked?" said Marot uncertainly. "Oh, you mean le feu est couvert." With a sigh, Marot shook his head. "It is a spectacle to make angels weep; two good, decent people who love each other but are prevented by a clash of personalities from living together. But this Foltz displays a proprietary attitude toward her. Do you suppose they are—ah—"
"If he's screwing her, you can be sure it's by consent. If he used force, she'd kill him in his sleep."
Broodingly Marot said: "Have a care, my old one. I can see the making of a fatal triangle—a fine melodrama, like one of those Italian operas where everybody stabs everybody."
"Better worry about your own fatal triangle," said Reith.
"How do you mean?"
"You, Foltz, and Ozymandias. That's as likely to cause violence as mine."
Reith spent a restless night, troubled by memories of the times he and Alicia had been together and by dreams of making passionate love to her.
The following morning, Fergus Reith parted the tent flaps to see a gray dawn lightening an overcast sky. An hour later, the work of blocking out Ozymandias was well under way when Doukh looked up from his task to say: "Master Reef, yonder comes someone!"
Following the Krishnan's pointing finger, Reith looked, and his heart seemed to turn over inside his ribs. Alicia, in khaki shirt and shorts, was running towards the excavation. As she came nearer, Reith saw that she was not only dirty and disheveled but also bore a black eye and several visible bruises about the face, arms, and legs.
"Good God, Lish! What's up?" cried Reith.
"Warren b-beat me up!" she sobbed, throwing herself into Reith's arms. "I ran away, and I've been wandering in circles half the night trying to find you." Her speech was thickened by a split and swollen lip.
Marot cleared his throat. "Fergus, my friend," he said, "perhaps you and this little lady would prefer to discuss matters by yourselves, hein?"
"He's right," said Reith. "Come this way, Lish, and tell me about it. Did you say that bastard beat you up?"
"Y-yes."
"I'll kill him, and I don't mean just punching his nose. But tell me the whole story."
"Well, after you went away, Warren and I got into a fight. He was furious at what he said was the way you and I had eyes for nobody but each other through dinner, and how we held hands and cooed at each other in saying good-night. He accused me of being still in love with you."
"Are you?" Reith asked on sudden impulse.
"That's not a fair question, right now. I'll admit you'll always be someone special to me. Anyway, one thing led to another, and I told him a few home truths about himself."
"Using your tongue as a scalpel to skin him alive. I know your talents."
"Don't be mean! I couldn't bear it. What tore it was when I told him how much better in bed you were than he. Then he really lost his temper and began punching and kicking. I'm stronger than I look, but he's stronger yet. When he'd battered me around the tent, he tried to rape me.
"I won't kid you, Fergus. I've been sleeping with him ever since this expedition started; that was part of the agreement—"
Reith sorrowfully shook his head. "Doesn't sound quite like you, Lish."
"I know; it looks as if I were for sale to the highest bidder. But it was neither for love nor for fun; it was that or starve. He made it plain at the start: no fucky, no jobby."
"Good lord, that's practically rape anyway. But I don't see—no talented Ertsu need starve on Krishna. There are always jobs to be had among the natives—"
"Ah, but it's one thing for a man like you to apply for such a job, and quite another for a personable Terran woman to do so. I've been offered jobs by several Krishnan bigwigs; but every offer had the same string attached as Warren's.
"What you don't understand is how low I felt. I'd fallen down on my job, been kicked out of Katai-Jhogorai with my work half done, lost my grant, run out of money, and thrown away the best man I was ever likely to get. So, what did I have to lose? Warren looked pretty good on first contact, and I thought I might be able to build the relationship into something useful. I was a fool, of course."
"Sweetheart, you need never starve on Krishna while I have one arzu to rub against another."
With tears in her eyes, Alicia threw her arms around Reith and buried her face in his chest. "Oh, darling ... But you weren't at Novo then. Even if you had been, I couldn't have asked favors of you after the way I'd treated you.
"Anyway, to get back to last night: After he'd beaten me half unconscious, he came at me with lance in rest. But this wasn't lovemaking; it was plain sadism."
"How did you get out of that? You said 'tried'."
"I kneed him in the crotch. If I'd only had a good sharp knife or sword, I'd have given him a sex change free of charge ... Anyway, while he was still doubled over, I ran out. Then I tried to find your camp, but I got lost."
"You knew about where it was, and you always had a keen sense of direction."
"True; but I hadn't been over this way. And then the overcast crept across the sky, so I couldn't steer by the moons and stars. After dawn, I recognized the slope of the land; and I knew that if I kept going down-slope, I'd come to the Zora."
Reith said: "First, let's get you cleaned up. Come on in this tent, where I've got my first-aid kit."
"I have stuff like that, too; but it's back at Warren's—oh, my God! All the notes I've been taking on Krishnan sociology are still in Warren's tent!"
"Hold still, darling. This will sting ... Better forget your notes for the present."
"But I must go back and get them—"
"You're not going anywhere. If I get a chance later, I'll get them for you." For once Alicia forwent an argument, to Reith's relief. All too well, he knew her tendency to respond to any opposition with a fierce, intransigent belligerence. He continued: "What gave Foltz the idea he had exclusive rights to you? Did he consider you his betrothed or something?"
"No; he never even suggested a permanent relationship, legal or otherwise—not that such a proposal would have interested me, once I got to know him. It was just plain, old-fashioned jealousy. You might read my Ph.D. thesis, on the proprietary component of the human sexual drive. Warren doesn't care for anyone but himself and his career. His idea is, what's mine is mine, and what's yours is negotiable. And he viewed his secretary-mistress as much his as his geologist's hammer."
Later, outside the tent, Reith sat down and began sharpening his sword on a whetstone, with long, careful strokes. Alicia, cleaned and tidied, followed him out. She asked:
"What are you doing?"
"I told you I'd kill that guy. When this is sharp enough to shave with, I'll ride back to his camp and have at him."
"Do you mean that, Fergus?"
"Of course. I'll bring his head back on the point of my snickersnee."