"That's our business," said Reith. "Go on."
"I traced you to Majbur, where I hired a squad of local bravos. But by the time I had them organized, your boat had sailed. So, with Lazdai's advance, I bought ayas for the gang and followed you. I thought that tonight, by a sudden rush, we could overpower you without unnecessary bloodshed."
"How kind of you," sneered Reith, "to save us for the kettle later!"
"I don't like seeing people boiled," said Foltz. "I begged Lazdai not to execute you and Marot, but she wouldn't—"
Smack! Marot reached down and hit Foltz a back-handed blow in the face. "That is for the lying. We had the true story from the Dasht."
Foltz shook his head and wiped a drop of blood from a cut lip. "You're wrong, Aristide. When Lazdai sent me out on his mission, I exacted a promise that you would not be tortured or killed."
Reith and Marot exchanged glances. Marot said: "How could we confirm that story?"
"By going to Jeshang and asking the old witch," growled Reith. "But I don't think we need the truth so badly as all that." He turned back to Foltz. "So what was your objective?"
"With the Priestess's money, I could set up my own institute here and put Krishnan paleontology on a sound basis, not screwing up the facts like my muddle-headed colleague. In the long run, Terran science would benefit."
Marot began to sputter with rage, but Reith cut in: "Well, we've heard his story, some of which is undoubtedly true. So what to do with him?"
"Kill him!" said Alicia. "Think of all the trouble we'd have been saved if we'd done it the first time! If we let him go, he'll only plot more outrages. I know him, to my sorrow, and I know he's one of mankind's most passionate haters."
"Alicia!" cried Foltz. "Is that any way to treat a man who loves you?"
"Love? You?" said Alicia, staring incredulously.
"Yes. I fell in love with you at Zora, though I didn't fully realize it till after you'd left me. I've been hoping to find you again and marry you. And I did save you from starvation by giving you a job, didn't I?"
"By making me your whore! And it's a funny kind of love that plots to deliver me to that she-monster in Jeshang—"
"But my dear Alicia, as my wife you'd be protected—"
"I can just see it," said Alicia in deadly tones. "You get me to Jeshang and say: 'All right, my dear, marry me or prepare for boiling!"
"Oh, you can't really believe I'd do such a—"
"Shut up and listen to me, Warren Foltz! I've had marriage proposals from two Krishnan heads of state, a king and a president. I have no desire for a Krishnan mate; but I'd infinitely prefer either of those to you. You're a treacherous, fanatical, sadistic, narcissistic, paranoid egomaniac, incapable of loving anyone but yourself. You're a slimy thing. You're also the planet's lousiest human lover. And you're not even a villain in the grand manner, but an infantile egotist, so petty as to cut up my one good dress after I ran away. I hate your guts, and I always shall. Do I make myself clear?"
Reith saw the paleontologist wince as Alicia spat out each sentence. He seemed to shrivel, to shrink into himself, and wax older as she spoke. At last he mumbled:
"Well, I can understand why you might be a little prejudiced against me. But I swear things will be different—"
"Shut up!" said Reith. "What to do with him? It'll soon be daylight—"
"Let me suggest," said Marot, "that we vote."
"If ye vote, as they do in Suruskand and Katai-Jhogorai, ye should count me in," said Ozum. "After all, 'tis my ship."
"Okay," said Reith. "How do you vote, Aristide?"
"Death. I hate bloodshed; but a man who wantonly destroys scientific knowledge is worse than a murderer."
Foltz sighed and shook his head. "That's no way to treat a colleague. We men of superior education should stick together against the ignorant masses."
"You, Captain?" said Reith, ignoring Foltz's plaints.
"I say not," said Ozum. "The story of this brabble must soon or late reach the ears of those in high places, and I would not be held culpable for any affray amongst Terrans. I have my living to earn on this river. Ye can demand his arrest under the laws of Gozashtand, in whose demesne the Zaidun now rides."
"Alicia?" said Reith.
"Kill him! We've been all through this before. If we let him go, he'll only try to have us killed in one way or another."
"And to think I've loved you!" said Foltz. "How can you kill the man who loves you?"
"I'd rather be loved by a cobra," said Alicia. "How about you, Fergus?"
Reith drew a long breath. "I think we'd better follow Ozum's advice and turn him over to the local authorities. I hope to go on working here, too, so it behooves me to keep my legal skirts clean. I can tie up Foltz with so many charges and suits that he'll be harmless for a long time."
"He'll wheedle and bluff his way out again," said Alicia. "Besides, the litigation would keep us all here till doomsday."
"No; I can get depositions from you and Aristide, to use if you leave the planet ..."
Since the four were deadlocked, the arguments went round and round, becoming ever more vehement. Ozum suggested, as a compromise, that instead of killing him they blind him and turn him loose. This proposal evoked another storm of dispute.
Up to that point, considering his desperate plight, Foltz had conducted himself with a fair degree of courageous, cold-blooded self-possession. When he heard the proposal to put out his eyes, however, his features took on an expression of horror. While his captors were too intent on shouting each other down to notice, Foltz suddenly heaved himself up and, though limping heavily, lunged for the door. He bowled over Marot and was out of the cabin before any could stay him.
With a shriek, Alicia leaped after him. Behind her pounded Reith and Captain Ozum, the latter roaring oaths. The two collided as they tried to get through the door at the same instant. By the time Reith reached the deck, he saw Alicia bending over the rail and pushing something down with a pole. He cried: "What are you doing, Alicia?"
"Drowning Warren Foltz," she replied crisply. "He tried to climb over the rail, wounded arm and leg and all. But he slipped on the blood and fell flat into the water. So I grabbed the boathook, and now I'm holding him under."
Reith looked over the side. The sky was paling with dawn light, and beneath the black surface of the river he could make out a pale human body, whose limbs made feebly struggling motions.
Despite his bias for law and order, Reith did not interfere. Foltz, he thought, was due for a sticky end sooner or later, and what difference if it were compassed by Alicia or another?
"There!" she said in tones of satisfaction. "He's stopped moving."
"My ruthless little superwoman!" said Reith. "Captain, shouldn't we weigh the body down, so it won't bob to the surface and cause a hue and cry?"
"The 'avvals will take care of it, fear not," said Ozum.
The body disappeared, and Alicia retrieved the boathook. Reith and Ozum heaved the body of the half-swordsman over the side, as Roqir's disk began to show scarlet through the thinning fog. Marot said:
"My dear Captain, let us hope that so-called cook of yours can for once furnish a decent breakfast. I could eat one of your shaihans, hide, bones, and all!"
XIV - THE SPACEPORT
The following day, Marot asked Reith: "Where on Krishna did Ozum get that cook? He is terrible! Me, I am sure I could do the better, despite the unfamiliar ingredients. I will speak to him."