Next morning, Reith and Alicia strolled about the deck, avoiding Qa'di and watching Marot patiently chipping away at his fossils. After the midday meal, the Morkerád put in at the village of Qantesr, larger than Kubyab, where a floating bridge spanned the Zigros. While the Morkerád tied up at the pier, the bridge tenders cranked away at the winches that hauled the string of supporting boats against the shore to allow the ship to pass.
Several Krishnans were gathered on the pier, together with a scattering of crates, bags, and jars. As the crew made the ship fast, Alicia said:
"Fergus, I'm going ashore for a while."
"What for?"
"I want to ask some questions of these folk, and I want to feel solid ground beneath my feet and breathe some clean air. This tub is pretty stinky, with the smell of the shaihans blowing over us day and night."
"How can you do any real research in the short time we'll be here?"
"Sarf said he'll be here most of the afternoon. They have to load a lot of stuff, and he has some deal on with one of those people on the pier."
"I don't think you should go," said Reith in his tour-guide voice.
"Why not?"
"I don't know how safe it'll be ashore. You know, Lish, you attract trouble the way honey does flies. You might have an accident, or run into some tough characters, and we'd never know what happened to you. So do stay aboard."
"No, I won't! I've decided to go."
"Oh", darling, do show some sense! We're still in Chilihagh, and the priests of Bákh are looking for us."
"Pfui! There's been no sign of a priest since we left Jeshang. Besides, there's a question about the Chilihagho inheritance law that I simply must ask while I can. I was an idiot not to think of it sooner."
"Ask Sarf."
"I did, and he doesn't know. I'm going!" she proclaimed.
"Don't be silly, darling! Do stay aboard, please! Bákh knows you've got enough data in those notebooks for a shelf of treatises."
"I tell you, I'm going, and that's that! As you said yourself, I'm an independent woman, free to go where I like."
"Then I'll come with you. Wait till I get my sword."
"No; I don't want you! You'd only be in the way."
Despite his efforts to control it, Reith's voice grew more dictatorial. "I'm responsible for you and Aristide, and I won't let you take foolish chances. We've been through enough already."
"You're not my husband any more, and it wouldn't matter if you were. I never signed a contract making you my expedition leader. I'll go where I wish, and if I get raped or murdered, that's my tough luck!"
She started for the gangway. Reith stepped in front of her, spreading his arms.
"Out of my way!" she cried.
"I won't let you!" shouted Reith.
"You can't stop me, you bossy bully!"
"Oh, yeah? I'll show you who—"
Alicia put both hands against Reith's chest and shoved. As she had said, she was stronger than her graceful build implied. The muscles in her slender limbs were hard; she had been a champion tennis player in her college days. Reith was thrown against the rail, which struck his buttocks. The momentum of his stagger over-balanced him, and his legs flew up. He executed a backflip and plunged into the water between the Morkerád and the pier.
"Man overboard!" bellowed Captain Sarf. "Ye there, Gamrok! Drop him a line!"
Marot appeared around the corner of the deckhouse in time to see Reith hauled out of the water. "Quel contretemps!" he exclaimed.
Alicia, standing on the gangboard, paused as Reith, dripping emerald slime, reached the level of the deck. She took a couple of steps and put out a hand to help him over the rail; but he ignored the proffered assistance.
"Fergus!" she said. "I'm sorry. I didn't intend—I mean—"
Reith coughed up some Zigros water. Retching and coughing, he rasped: "The hell ... you didn't!"
"Oh, be a bastard, then!" she snapped, and marched defiantly ashore.
"My friend," said Marot, "what can I do?"
"Get me a towel, will you, old boy?"
Knowing that these subtropical Krishnans had no nudity tabu, save where Terran missionaries had striven to implant one, Reith stripped and hung his dripping garments over the rail. Qa'di, drifting nigh, remarked on Reith's pubic hair. Since Krishnans lacked this anatomical feature, the sight of it often elicited comments from them.
Dried and dressed in his good Krishnan kilt, Reith found his anger cooling. No matter what Alicia said or did, he could not bear deliberately to hurt her, no matter how furious she made him from time to time. If only she would return to the boat before something untoward befell her!
Qa'di moved closer until only a few centimeters separated them. "I would not treat you thus ruthlessly," she murmured.
"Thanks. I'm sure you wouldn't."
"Belike I could soothe your wounded liver?" She cast a meaningful glance towards the deckhouse door.
"Your pardon, lady. I feel unwell today. But let's take time tomorrow to know each other better."
"Good! I shall be here."
For the next Krishnan hour, Reith paced the deck, watched cargo being stowed, and fidgeted. At last the ship's loading was nearly complete, and Alicia was still missing. Reith said to Marot:
"Aristide, that woman has got me buffaloed. Should I go ashore to look for her? If she's lost, we can't ask Sarf to hold his boat indefinitely. If I go ashore, I may get lost, too. It would serve Lish right if we sailed off without her; but I can't do that to a fellow Terran, let alone ..."
"I understand your feelings," replied the Frenchman. "I think that we must collect our belongings and place them at the end of the gangplank. If she has not returned when Sarf casts off, we shall have to go ashore, wait for her there, and throw ourselves on the mercy of the inhabitants. There may be places for travelers. Perhaps we can flag down the next east-bound riverboat."
"We're practically out of money," said Reith. 'To be stranded broke on Krishna is quite as serious as to be stranded penniless on Earth."
"Some paysans might put us up in return for gossip," said Marot, refusing to be discouraged. "Or we may be near enough to Jazmurian so that we can raise credit on the strength of your tessera. If none of these schemes works—how far is it to Jazmurian?"
Reith frowned. "At a guess, twenty to thirty kilometers."
"I am a little old and heavy for such a walk, but perhaps I could do it. Let us gather our things, no?"
A quarter-hour later, when Captain Sarf banged his gong to signal the ship's departure, Alicia came running from the woods, waving a sheaf of notepaper. She sped up the gangboard as the crew prepared to hoist it into the ship and threw a contemptuous glance at Reith and Marot.
"Ready to jump ship?" she said, eyeing their bundled gear. "Do you find my company so unbearable?"
Without awaiting an explanation, Alicia vanished into the deckhouse. When she reappeared, she ostentatiously ignored both Reith and Marot. She attached herself to Captain Sarf, standing beside him where he manned the tiller and remarking on his skill as the ship got under way.
At dinner, she preempted the seat next to the captain and continued to give him her exclusive attention, talking, joking, and laughing with all her charm. In that mood, thought Reith morosely, she could talk a bijar out of a tree.
When the Morkerád anchored on a sandbar for the night, Reith stood at the rail, drinking in the moonlight on the water and brooding on the mistakes he had made throughout his life. At last he retired to his deckhouse mattress. The other passengers and crew had already bedded down; as the last one in, it fell to Reith to pinch out the candle. Before he did so, he looked around for Alicia's blond head, but failed to find her among the recumbent bodies.