"Okay, then, we're a success," said Reith lugubriously.
Marot smiled. "I know; your personal problems weigh upon you. Ça passe. Come and show me how to play that game they call piza."
When the Zaidun tied up at Novorecife, Reith bade a warm farewell to Captain Ozum, waved to the deck crew, shouldered his bag, and went ashore with Marot. Carrying a folder of pencilled notes as well as her bag, Alicia caught up with Marot and tugged at his arm. "Aristide!"
Marot paused; Reith tramped on up the path as if he had not heard. "Yes, my little one?" said Marot. "Excuse, I forget that you dislike the expression."
"How is he?"
"In health, as good as ever, save for that lump on the cranium. That will soon depart."
"Well—I wonder—could you give him a message?"
Marot shook his head. "No, my dear, I regret to say that I will not. If you wish to convey a message, speak or write yourself. You have seen the results of ill-advised meddling. Me, I avoid it."
"Oh, please! I only want to tell him how sorry I am."
"No, dear Alicia, for his sake I will not. With you for a friend, my poor Fergus has no need of enemies."
"Oh, Aristide, what a cruel thing to say! You know I love him!"
"My heart is torn, but there is nothing I can do. I am not a marriage-and-divorce counselor."
Following Reith, Marot strode resolutely up the path, leaving Alicia with her bundles at her feet and hands pressed against her eyes.
The Juruá came down in flame and thunder. When the landing pad had cooled, the towering landing ramp wheeled itself out and extended its upper section like a tentacle.
As passengers began to trickle down the long slope, bearing their hand luggage, Fergus Reith awaited them at the foot of the ramp. He recognized the tour leader by the yellow paper sunflower pinned to his coat and stepped forward to greet him: "Mr. Svoboda?"
"Mr. Reith?" said the man with the sunflower, smiling. "Glad to know you. Let me introduce Mr. Kovacs, Mrs. Powanda, Mr. Mahler, Mr. and Mrs. Bratianu, Miss Nagy, Mrs. Markovici, Dr. Wyszkowski, Mr. and Mrs. Novotny ..."
Reith shepherded his new gaggle of tourists through customs and saw to their billeting in the part of the compound reserved for incoming travelers. Henceforth Svoboda, who spoke no Krishnan languages, would (Reith noted with satisfaction) be responsible for the groups' internal problems. Reith was in charge of the external ones, including itinerary, transportation, quarters, food, and sights of major interest.
For several days, organizing the new tour preempted Reith's attention. He had to escort his charges, a few at a time, through the Outfitting Shop. Novo's physician, Marina Velskaya, gave each one a physical checkup. Ivar Heggstad, the trainer, put the men and the more active women through muscle-hardening exercises.
During this busy time, Reith caught not even a glimpse of Alicia, towards whom he made a determined effort to remain coolly impersonal. Yet, as his resentment of her assault with the frying pan cooled, his bitterness faded before a host of tender memories and recollections of how stoutly she had stood by him in danger.
Reith had an informal understanding with Herculeu Castanhoso, the station's chief security officer. Before each tour group set out under Reith's guidance, Castanhoso would take them on a couple of small excursions, up the Pichidé to Rimbid and down to Qou. This would give Reith a chance to clean up unfinished paperwork and iron out last-minute details.
Reith also dropped in on Li Guoching, the communications officer. After he had told some of his adventures, Reith added:
"What's the latest from Chilihagh? They were having a civil war."
"The Dasht won, but by a fluke of fortune."
"Indeed? Do tell."
The stout Chinese drew on his potent Krishnan cigar. "Kharob had Lazdai and her leading priests arrested, but a mob of Bákhites delivered them. Soon Lazdai controlled all Jeshang but the palace, where Kharob held out with his partisans. General Gurshman collected a force from the frontier garrisons and marched on Jeshang. Someone loyal to the Dasht opened the gate for them.
"The two forces met in the main square of Jeshang. After much shouting of threats and anathemas, Lazdai ordered a charge. Her forces much outnumbered the loyalists, including those who had been besieged in the palace, and who had broken out and joined Gurshman.
"But Lazdai decided to lead the charge in person, brandishing a sword like legendary Queen Dejanai. The ancient bag of bones, however, had not been on an aya for nearly a century. When her mount bounded forward, she fell off and was instantly killed by the impact of the cobblestones. The Dasht set up a cry of 'Bákh has spoken!' and the insurgents fled helter-skelter. Their leaders' heads now adorn the main gate.
"Kharob has disestablished the Temple of Bákh and declared his realm friendly to all gods regardless of their overlapping claims."
Reith chuckled. "Foltz's attempt to kidnap us wouldn't have done him any good after all. He'd have arrived in Chilihagh to find our friend the Dasht in control."
In telling of Foltz's abortive raid on the riverboat, Reith had said nothing of his death at Alicia's hands. He had simply said that Foltz had fallen into the river during the fight and drowned. As far as he was concerned, this would remain the official story.
Sitting in his quarters one evening, Reith was calculating the expenses of his expedition with Marot. as far as he could reconstruct them. He heard a knock and called: "Come in!"
Alicia, wearing a simple Terran street dress, black with a white collar, entered hesitantly. "May I sit down?"
"Of course, Alicia. What have you been doing with yourself?"
"Tidying my records for microfilming. How about you?"
"Getting my next tour organized; and you can bet we won't stop at Ghulindé! I'm also giving myself a crash refresher course to polish my rusty German. Half these Middle European tourists of mine speak German but no English, and I'm damned if I'll tackle Magyar or Czech or Romanian. Was kann ich für dich tuun?"
Alicia hesitated, nervously twisting her fingers. "This isn't exactly a business call."
"Well?"
"I have a reservation on the Juruá tomorrow."
"You have? I didn't know you'd decided to go Earthside."
"Well, I did, more or less. I—I didn't think you'd want me to go off without saying good-bye."
"Of course not! I'd certainly want to see you off; but it would seem a little cold, just to shake hands at the ramp and say: 'Boa viagem! "
"Look, Fergus—I don't know how to say—what I mean is—"
"Take a deep breath, count ten, and spit it out."
She paused. "Well—what I mean is, if you asked me to marry you again, I'd jump at the chance. I can still cancel my passage."
Reith chewed his lip. "I thought something like that was in the wind."
"Well, are you going to ask me?"
"I've been thinking about that very thing. Ever since Zora, in fact, I've thought about little else—except when we were being chased by pirates, fanatical priests, and mad paleontologists."
She brightened hopefully. "And what did you conclude?"
Reith looked at Alicia, sitting in his favorite chair and looking like a goddess in Terran street clothes. His heart sank into his bedroom slippers, but he knew he could not stall any longer. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid the answer is no. I know we'll never be good for each other."