XII - THE SEAPORT
As the suburbs of Majbur rocked past the train windows, Reith raised his voice above the rattle of couplings, the squeal of axles, the creak of wooden car frames, and the rumble of the bishtar's six huge feet on the cross ties: "We've got to figure out how to get to Novo. Thank Bákh, Majbur is a place where our credit is good. We can buy ayas and ride, or take passage on a riverboat. Those boats move slowly upstream, so we'd probably save a few days by riding."
Alicia groaned. "I'm worn out from all we've been through, Fergus. I couldn't face another long ride until I've rested up."
"Permit me to express identical sentiments," said Marot. "I, too, am exhausted. How long is the passage by boat?"
"Let me think. It's about three hundred and seventy kilometers to Novorecife. At the normal rate of upstream travel ..."
Reith closed his eyes. "It would take a minimum of nine days. Allow ten or even eleven if we count the inevitable delays, compared to five or six by road."
Marot said: "These people make sophisticated carriages, drawn by ayas. Could we not buy or hire such an equipage here and drive it? It would be more comfortable than the saddle."
"Can you drive one of those rigs?"
"Alas, no. I have never learned this type of manège."
"Same with me," said Reith.
"Why, Fergus!" said Alicia. "I thought you could do everything, like Ivan Skavinsky Skavar."
"Sorry to reveal my feet of clay. I'll try to learn."
"Could we not hire a driver?" persisted Marot.
"I suppose so; but to assemble carriage, ayas, driver, and all, and try them out, itself would take several days. What's your deadline for return?"
Marot: "I have space reserved on the Juruá. This will be in something more than a moon—perhaps twenty-five days."
"You, Alicia?"
"I have no plans," said Alicia, studying her hands. "If the Juruá brings me more grant money, I thought I'd go to Suruskand to investigate their system. If not, I may return to Earth, if they have room and I can borrow the fare. Otherwise ..." She shrugged, with a long look at Reith, whose face remained impassive. Alicia continued: "If a riverboat leaves soon, we'll have plenty of time to get to Novo before blastoff. Besides, I have a reason for preferring a boat."
"What's that?" asked Reith.
"As soon as I get some pencils and paper, I'm going to start rewriting my notes from memory. A peaceful riverboat is a perfect place for writing. I couldn't do it in a carriage, let alone on ayaback."
The train pulled into Majbur's South Station, amid a squeal of brakes and shouts of the mahout astride the bishtar's neck. The three Terrans climbed stiffly down. They looked anything but prosperous travelers, in their rumpled doming with Marot's bag of fossils their only baggage.
Reith still wore his khakis, much the worse for wear. His cheeks glowed with a coppery stubble, on its way to becoming a full red beard. Alicia looked like a Gypsy in her bedraggled bolero, skirt, and scarf from the Haghrib's hold.
Marot had been forced to board the train in his ragged undershorts. During the overnight stop at Yantr, all three had bought crude leather slippers for their painfully abraded feet; and Marot, with Reith's help, had purchased a second-hand jacket and kilt. Although these patched garments were in their last stage of decrepitude, Marot shrugged off their seediness.
"Dressed like a vagabond," he said, scratching his newly sprouted pepper-and-salt beard, "none thinks me worth the robbing. Where are you taking us tonight?"
"I'll first drop in on Gorbovast," said Reith. "We need money to square our debt with the railroad and buy us passage home. His office is about six blocks from here."
Gorbovast bad-Sar, Resident Commissioner in Majbur for King Eqrar of Gozashtand, less formally known as Novorecife's principal intelligence agent and general trouble shooter, proved a small, elderly Krishnan with a face ridged with tiny wrinkles and hair faded to pale jade. When he saw Reith, he cried in English:
"Ah, Mr. Reese! What an exquisite pleasure to see you again! What tale of misfortune dire have you to tell zis time?"
"Tale enough," said Reith. "We've just arrived from Jazmurian on our way to Novo, flat broke, without shelter, and far from home."
"A pity! I would urge you to use my house as your own, save zat a score of my kindred have come hither to celebrate ze hatchday of my latest grandchild. Still, you must bring your friends to my house for dinner on ze morrow, and tell ze tale of your adventures."
"It'll be a confession of my shortcomings," said Reith with a self-deprecating grin. "Adventures are a sign of incompetence. My tours are successful to the degree that they go smoothly to the point of dullness." He introduced his companions.
"I sought I recognized ze beautiful Doctor Dyckman," said Gorbovast, "from ze time you came here wiz Mr. Mjipa. Let me sink ... Am I correctly informed zat you and Mr. Reese are man and wife?"
"Were," said Reith shortly.
"Oh, excuse! So sorry! I did not mean ..."
"Forget it, Commissioner," said Reith. "We Terrans have all sorts of bizarre arrangements."
Gorbovast turned to Marot. "Doctor, do I hear a certain Terran accent? Vous êtes frangais, Monsieur?"
"Mais oui!" cried Marot. "Comme j'aime entendre la lan-gue de la civilisation!"
"Ah, comme je m' étonne de cette belle civilisation!" exclaimed Gorbovast.
Not to be outdone, Reith continued the conversation in his stiff, bookish French, rusty from lack of practice. "First, we have need of the money. Then we have need of a place to stay until we find the transportation."
"How will you travel?"
"If a riverboat leaves for Novo soon, we want to take passage thereon. Know you the dates of the next sailings?"
"A moment, please." Gorbovast dug into a desk and brought out a fistful of papers, through which he riffled. "Alas, I cannot find that list of departures, Menshu!"
"Here, sir." A clerk emerged from a back room.
"Mount your scooter and hasten to the riverfront. Learn what towboat next leaves for Novorecife and when. Tarry not!"
When Menshu had departed, Gorbovast, still speaking French, said: "How came you from Jazmurian? Did you have difficulties?"
"Bien sûr!" said Reith. "We were abducted between Jazmurian and Kolsafid—"
"You were perhaps on the train stopped by raiders, who tore up the track?"
"Yes. They took us to Jeshang, and threatened us with the death by boiling, from which Doctor Dyckman rescued us comme marée en carême. Then when we tried to voyage here by sea, we were captured by pirates. We sank the pirate ship and swam ashore. Aside from that, it was an uneventful trip."
"Great Dashmok! Mon dieul J'ai râm! I am afire wiz impatience to hear ze whole story. How came you hither from the shore to which you swam?"
"A Mikardando knight flagged down a train from Kolsafid and persuaded the conductor to carry us on credit. The rest will have to wait, because we are weary and have much to do. We still owe the railroad for our fares."
"I understand. About the money, I must fill out some papers. ... Seat yourselves, I pray you ..."
Gorbovast vanished into the inner office. By the time the clerk returned, Reith's pockets bulged with coin. Gorbovast said: "You had better avoid the waterfront with so much money on your person. Menshu, what learned you touching the riv-erboats?"
"Captain Ozum's Zaidun sails the day after tomorrow, sir."
"That's good luck for us," said Reith. "Ozum runs a stout ship, and he's the most honest skipper around. Dashmok must be on our side for a change." Reith smiled at his companions.