"You didn't act depressed."
"In my trade, the show must go on. That's one thing tour guiding has taught me."
"Weren't you furious after your ducking? You had a right to be."
"Not for long. I can get as angry as the next one when somebody does me dirt. But when I've cooled down, I say: take it easy, Fergus That person merely did what he'd been programmed for by heredity and environment. It's as much my fault as his, for not understanding him better."
"I wish I had your godlike detachment. By the day we reached Majbur, I felt so horrible about what I'd done in Ghulindé" that I wished you'd hit me or rape me or something."
"Darling, I just don't do things like that. I may be a softy, but I couldn't deliberately hurt you, even when you deserved it."
"I wish I could be as good to you. End of inquisition. I guess the party's over."
"Hold it! You haven't answered my questions."
"Well?"
"Tell me about you and Foltz."
"Oh, forget Warren Foltz! He was a cold fish—completely selfish, in bed or out of it. That's all you need to know."
"No it isn't, and you promised. How did you get involved with the guy in the first place?"
"I'd just got back from Katai-Jhogorai and found I was broke. Also-Judge Keshavachandra had issued the final decree that I'd applied for in a crazy moment. Feeling blue. I was unloading my troubles on Juana Rincon, when she told me about Foltz. He was all set to leave for Chilihagh and needed a research assistant. So I hunted him down. He asked me to have a drink in the Nova Iorque and turned on the charm."
"Was it then that he said what he'd—ah—expect of you?"
"Oh, yes; he was quite frank about it. He said: 'Alicia, you can't expect a healthy man like me to travel with a beautiful woman for moons at a time and not make advances. So to save altercations later, let's understand each other right now. Either I have bed privileges, or we call the deal off.'
"You know, Fergus, I enjoy being told I'm good-looking as much as the next woman. But sometimes I've wished I'd been born really ugly, so I could go about my work without having to fend off tumescent males at every step."
"If nobody ever made a pass, you might not like that, either. So you took Foltz up on his offer?"
"Obviously. I had to decide quickly; and I'm not good at snap judgments. When I'd been with him a few hours, I suspected I'd made another ghastly mistake. But then we were well on our way to Mishé; so I hung on, hoping my suspicions were unfounded. But they weren't."
"Didn't the nature of the bargain tip you off?"
"Not really. Such arrangements are common, and nobody thinks a thing about them. When Lucy McKay went to Ormazd, she took a handsome young photographer, and everyone knew he was hired for night duty as well as picture-taking."
"Did she pay him overtime?"
"Not how it's done, stupid. I'd avoided these liaisons up to then, mainly by going on my research trips alone."
"Poor Lish!" It was the first time since Ghulindé that Reith had used that nickname. "If only I'd been there! Was he good in bed?"
She shook her head vigorously. "No better than a Krishnan. Every three days, like clockwork, he'd shake me awake and say: 'Come here, girl; I want you!' Then wham, bam, thank you ma'am, and back to his fossils and notes. Not a trace of affection in him. He viewed sex as a bothersome biological necessity, to be gotten over with as soon as possible. I once said, if he was so perfunctory about it, what did he need me for? When I suggested the obvious alternative, he slapped me hard enough to knock me down. That time he apologized; but I should have been warned."
"If I ever meet that swine—" growled Reith. After a pause he added: "You hinted that Krishnans aren't much good, either."
"Well, I'm not a connoisseur of Krishnan sex—"
"Neither am I. But from what you do know—"
"They're built differently from men, with some sort of reinforcing bone or cartilage. But they're all through in a matter of seconds; then they're back twenty minutes later, and so on. Some human women may like it, but I found it merely frustrating."
"Thanks, Lish. What you tell me hurts, but it's better than always wondering."
"Anything else you want to know about my scarlet past?"
"Oh, come off it! A pale pink past, maybe; and I'm sure you've already told me more than I wanted to know about your experiences. Compared to most women of your age, your life has been practically conventical."
"Then you'll admit your experience has been quite as wide as mine, any way you measure it?"
"I guess so," said Reith, patting a yawn. "I think we can turn in now."
Alicia set down her goblet, rose, and sat on Reith's lap. Encircling him with her arms, she gave him a long, passionate kiss. "Fergus dear, are you getting ideas?"
"Well, all this talk of sex does raise one's—ah ..."
"Darling, what are ex-wives for?"
"Without any promises or commitments?"
"Without any promises or commitments. I'd adore being your amorex again. There's only one thing I want more." (Reith knew that the "thing" was a new marriage certificate, but he kept silent.) "Come on, stupid! How explicit must I be?" She began unbuttoning his jacket.
Reith said: "If we're brother and sister, doesn't this seem a little incestuous? And are you safe? Your last FM pill must have run out by now."
"Oh, I begged a couple more off Gorbovast."
Struggling with the loops on the back of Alicia's dress, Reith chuckled. "Gorbovast is the greatest little old fixer on Krishna, but I didn't expect him to keep a supply of Terran contraceptives. Darling, you're beautiful whether you're wearing rags or ball gowns; but when I see just the pure, simple you, I'm speechless!"
From out on deck floated the plaintive notes of Hayakawa's Moonlight on the Ruins.
When at last Reith rose and reached for his clothes, Alicia rolled over and buried her face in the bedding, stifling sobs. "Oh, why," she murmured, "do I always throw away my most precious possessions? Damn, damn, damn!" With each "damn" she punched the pillow.
Long before dawn, Reith found himself awake and, as had often happened lately, stewing over the question of Alicia. He did not think her remark during their quarrel on the Kubitar, that she would refuse an offer of marriage from him, was seriously meant. If it were, that would make things easy. He could say, will you marry me again? and she could say, no; and he would be free of further moral obligations. But he could not count on her refusal. To offer a marriage that his rational side did not want, and have the proposal accepted, would be another invitation to disaster ...
Reith gave up trying to sleep, dressed, and went out on deck. The Zaidun was tied up at Gadri for the night. A moon-silvered fog lay over the river, making everything indistinct more than a few meters away.
With a faint gurgle, the current lapped around the pilings of the pier and the hull of the Zaidun. In their pen at the stem, the shaihans munched their hay throughout the night. These sounds were the only ones audible to Reith's ears. Even the late-night revelers of Gadri must have gone home.
Reith strolled up to the bow, where the boatman assigned the sentry-go sat on the rail and smoked his cigar. Keeping his voice low so as not to disturb the sleepers, Reith said:
"Hail, Seaman Káj! How goes it?"
"Well enough, Master Reef. And your good self?"
"As well as one can expect ..." Reith broke off, listening.
A faint sound had jerked him to full alertness, head up, senses atingle, and eyes probing the mist-shrouded darkness. A light patter of feet and a murmur of low voices were not in themselves alarming. But, with the Bákhites, Vaklaf the Duru, and Gorbovast's vague warning, Reith was keyed up to anticipate danger.