"I didn't like being taken by surprise," said Gaballufix. "But I know that sometimes these things are out of one's control."
Gabya was being understanding. Relief swept over him, and Elemak sat back more comfortably in his chair.
"You can imagine how worried I was. I couldn't very well slip away and warn you what was happening-Father was on us the whole time, not to mention my little brothers."
"Mebbekew?"
"It was all I could do to keep him from loosing all his sphincters on the spot. You should never have brought him into the plan."
"Shouldn't I?"
"How do you know he wasn't the one who warned Father?"
"I don't know that," said Gaballufix. "All I know is that my dear cousin Wetchik left, and my brother Elemak with him."
"At least he's out of the city, He won't be interfering with you anymore."
"Won't he?"
"Of course not. What can he do from some secluded valley in the desert?"
"He sent you back," said Gaballufix.
"With a limited objective that has nothing to do with the whole debate over war wagons and Potokgavan and the Wetheads."
"The debate has moved far beyond those concerns anyway," said Gaballufix. "Or, perhaps I should say, it has moved far closer than those concerns. So tell me-what is your father's limited objective, and how can I thwart him?"
Elemak laughed, hoping that Gabya was joking. "The best way to thwart him, I think, is to give him what he wants-a simple thing, nothing, really-and then we'll go away and it'll be between you and Roptat, the way you wanted it."
"I never wanted it between me and anybody," said Gaballufix. "I'm a peaceable man. I want no conflict. I thought I had a plan whereby conflict could be avoided, but at the last moment the people I counted on fell through."
He was still smiling, but Elemak realized that things were not as steady between them as he had hoped.
"Now tell me, Elya, what is the little thing that you think I should do for your father, solely because your ‘father asks for it?"
"There's some Index," said Elemak. "An old thing that's been in the family for generations."
"An Index? Why would I have one of Wetchik's family indexes?"
"I don't know. I assumed you'd know which one he meant. He just called it ‘the Index' and so I thought you'd know."
"I have dozens of indexes. Dozens." Then, suddenly, Gaballufix raised an eyebrow, as if he had just realized something. Elemak had seen him put on that same performance before, however, so he knew he was being played with. "Unless you mean-but no, that's absurd, that's nothing that ever belonged to the Wetchik house."
Elemak dutifully played along. "What are you talking about?"
"The Palwashantu Index, of course," said Gaballufix. "The whole reason for the clan having been established in the first place, back at the dawn of time. The most precious artifact in all of Basilica."
Of course he would play up the value of it. Just like any merchant who was eager to sell. Pretend that what he's selling is the most valuable thing ever to exist on the planet, so you can set some absurdly high price, and then work your way down.
That can't be the one, then," said Elemak, "Father certainly didn't think it had that much value. It was more of a sentimental thing. His grandfather owned it, and lent it to the clan council for safekeeping during his travels. Now Father wants to take it with him on his travels."
"Oh, that's the one, then. His grandfather had it, but only as a temporary guardian. It was delegated to the Wetchik by the Palwashantu clan; he wearied of the burden, and gave it back. Now another guardian has been appointed-me. And I'm not weary. So tell your father I'm grateful that he was willing to help me with my duties, but I'll struggle on without his help for another few years, I think,"
It was time for the price to be mentioned. Elemak waited, but Gaballufix said nothing.
And then, when the silence had stretched on for several minutes, Gaballufix arose from behind his table. "Anyway, my dear brother, I'm glad to see you back in the city. I hope you'll be here for a long time-I can use your support. In feet, now that your father seems to have run off, I'll certainly use my influence to try to get you appointed Wetchik in his place."
This was not at all what Elemak had expected. It asserted a relationship between Elemak and his own inheritance that was completely intolerable. "Father is Wetchik," he said. "He hasn't died, and when he does, I'm Wetchik without any help from anyone."
"Hasn't died?" asked Gaballufix. "Then where is he? I don't see my old friend Wetchik-but I do see the son that stands to profit most from his death."
"My brothers will also witness that Father is alive."
"And where are they ?"
Elemak almost blurted out the fact that they were hiding not very for from the city walls. Then he realized that this was almost certainly what Gaballufix wanted most to know-who Elemak's allies were, and where they were hiding. "You don't think I'd enter the city alone, do you, when my brothers are as eager to come back to Basilica as I am!"
Of course Gaballufix knew that Elemak was lying-or, at the least, he knew that Elemak's thumbprint was the only one that had shown up at any of the city gates. What Gabya couldn't know was whether Elemak was merely bluffing, and his brothers were all far away in the desert-or whether they had circumvented the guards at the gates and even now were in the city, plotting some mischief that Gaballufix would need to worry about. Yet Gaballufix couldn't say anything about the fact that he knew Elemak was the only one to enter the city legally-it would be as much as admitting that he had complete access to the city's computers.
"I'm glad they were able to return to the pleasures of the city," said Gabya. "I hope they're careful though. A rough element has been brought into the city-mostly by Roptat and his gang, I'm afraid-and even though I'm helping the city by letting a few of my employees put in extra duty hours patrolling the streets, it's still possible for young men wandering alone through the city to get involved in unfortunate incidents. Sometimes dangerous ones,"
"I'll warn them to look out."
"And you, too, Elemak. I worry for you, my brother. There are those who think your father was involved in a plot against Roptat. What if they take out their resentment on you ?"
At that moment Elemak realized that his mission had failed. Gabya clearly did believe that Elemak had betrayed him-or else had concluded that Elemak was no longer useful and might even be dangerous enough to be worth killing. There was no hope now of getting anything through a pretense of polite brotherliness. But it might be worth taking a different tack.
"Come nowj Gabya," said Elemak, "you know that you're the one who's been putting out that story about Father plotting against Roptat. That was the plan, remember? For Father to be found in the coolhouse with Roptat's murdered corpse. He wouldn't be convicted, but he'd be implicated, discredited. Only Father didn't come, and therefore Roptat wouldn't get close enough for your thugs to kill him, and now you're trying to salvage as much of the plan as you can. We sat here and talked about it-why should we pretend now that we don't both know exactly what's going on?"
"But we dwft both know what's going on," said Gaballufix. "I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about."
Elemak looked at him with contempt. "And to think I once believed you were capable of leading Basilica to greatness. You coukbrt even neutralize your opposition when you had the chance."
"I was betrayed by fools and cowards," said Gaballufix.
"That's the excuse that fools and cowards always give for their failures-and it's always true, as long as you , realize that it's self-betrayal they're talking about."