The message completed, Mjipa turned to Alicia. "It may not do much good," he said, "but we want to put every obstacle we can in these larrikins' way."
It had taken nine days for Mjipa to get from Kalwm City to the border post, but they made the opposite journey in eight. The trip went faster, albeit in far less comfort, because a small party wastes less time than a larger one in getting started mornings, arguing over where to stop to pitch camp, and disputing about who shall do which chore.
On the afternoon of the eighth day, the sky was overcast, with a drizzle, as on the first day that Mjipa had seen the city. Mjipa and his two companions looked like disaster victims.
Mjipa and Minyev wore their Kalwmian kilts; Alicia, her shorts and shirt. So covered with dust and mud were they, however, that a beholder would have had trouble telling where cloth ended and hide began. Dirt lessened the differences in color between Mjipa and Alicia, so that they presented merely different shades of brown. The drizzle had eroded runnels in their coatings of dirt, giving a zebra effect.
Beneath the dirt they all looked gaunt, worn, and weary. They had been lashed by tropical rains, baked by tropical suns, and bitten by Krishnan arthropods, some of whom seemed to find Terran blood as attractive as did insects on Earth. As a result of their hurried departure from Yein, without time to gather supplies, they ran out of food and traveled the last two days on empty stomachs. The Terrans' tempers, never phlegmatic, were shorter than ever.
One of the fiercest quarrels between the Terrans had erupted when they crossed a river, and the girl demanded that they halt while she bathed. Mjipa had vetoed the plan on the ground that some of these rivers harbored dangerous life, comparable to the crocodiles and piranhas of Earth. He refused to take a chance on a dip without a better knowledge of the local fresh-water fauna.
Vuzhov's tower loomed out of the mist, standing high above the city wall. Frowning, Mjipa said: "By Jove, I believe they've added another story to that thing! It's time for God to step in and cause a confusion of tongues, as in the Bible."
"Percy, you don't really believe—"
"Good lord, no! At Oxford they told me the Tower of Babel was merely the Ziggurat of Babylon."
"Somebody ought to stir up a revolution against this crazy king and his obsolete government," said Alicia. "I'd like a chance—"
"Now look here! You tried that once and got kicked out of the country. If you do it again, the results may be more painful."
"I have a right to point out a plain fact—"
"And get yourself killed doing it? Not while you're with me, lassie! Remember, we've got agang of Khorosh's killers on our spoor. If you make a bloody nuisance of yourself, Vuzhov's people would be happy to turn you over to this crew, thus ducking responsibility—"
"Bloody nuisance, am I? Damn you, Percy Mjipa, why did you bother to come after me? All you care about is your bureaucratic rules and your fitness reports ..."
By the time they reached the Mutabwcian Gate, the quarrel had subsided into grim silence. The officer of the duty squad looked at Mjipa's papers, saying: "Welcome back, Master Mjipa! The city buzzes with a rumor of a brabble 'twixt you and the mighty lord of Zhamanak, with no two tales alike. Canst give the sooth of it?"
"Nothing of consequence, sir. He and I had words in a minor argument, wherefore our parting was less amicable than its usual wont."
They passed into the city. Mjipa went to Irants's Inn, where he had stayed aforetime. When he led his companions in, Irants looked up from his cushion, saying sharply: "Begone, ragamuffins! No beggars or vagrants in here!... Oh, 'tis ye, Master Mjipa! Phaighost save me, but ye ghasted me sore, appearing like a ghost from the past. What befell you, that ye bear an aspect so tristful? What would ye? A room? Can ye still pay?"
"I can pay," said Mjipa. "I want two rooms, with one and two beds respectively."
Mjipa gave Alicia the single room. When she was settled, she said: "Percy, I want to interview the taverner. I'm sure I could get a paper on the economics of Krishnan innkeeping."
" 'Fraid not," said Mjipa. "One of the conditions under which they let me through was that, if I returned with you, I should keep you under wraps, as you Americans say, while we were in Kalwm. That means no interviews."
"But that's terrible! Here I have a virgin field, anthropologically speaking, and I'm not allowed to ask one little question! I may never get back here again!"
"The beggars are afraid you'd start setting 'em right on the shape of the planet." Mjipa saw from Alicia's expression that she was about to fly into one of her rages. "Now calm down, my dear! I don't like these restrictions any better than you, but if we want to get back to Novo with our heads still attached, we'd jolly well better pay them heed.
"Now I'll order our dinners from Irants. I don't know about you, but I could eat enough for three. Meanwhile there's a bathhouse down the street, which we could all use.
After dinner we shall be too tired for anything but sleep, even though it'll still be daylight."
Next morning Alicia overslept. Mjipa breakfasted with Minyev in Irants's common room. As they finished, Mjipa told his factotum:
"Minyev, I want to know the sailing dates of the next ships to Shaf, or Jazmurian, or Majbur. Shaf's at the end of the rail line, so we would go from there to Majbur." (A Krishnan railroad consisted of a pair of wooden rails, on which tame bishtars pulled strings of little wooden cars.) "But either of the other ports would do as well. Can you do it?"
"Aye, master."
"Then go to it. Make sure the ship has quarters for the three of us, and reserve our places."
Minyev departed. A couple of local breakfasters also finished and went, leaving Mjipa alone in the common room. Irants came over and sat in Minyev's seat, saying:
"My lord, tell me some things anent Terrans. Amongst the breed whence ye spring, is't usual for the males to be tall and black, whereas the females be of medium size, pale of skin, and yellow of hair?"
"No. Mistress Dyckman and I come from different parts of our world. Hence the racial differences between us."
Irants digested this information. Then he said: "Another thing, sir, if I may speak of familiar matters. I could not help observe that ye placed the female in the single room, whilst ye and Goodman Minyev took the double. Amongst us, a male and his mate cohabit in the same quarter. Or could it be that ye suffer what we call the curse of the gods, that ye know not which sex ye appertain to?"
Mjipa felt a passing wave of anger but then burst into laughter. "No, my friend, you have it wrong. First, I have no urge of that sort towards another male; the idea revolts me. Second, Mistress Dyckman is not my mate, or anyone's else, but a learned lady of respect and authority in her own world. I am but her guide and helper—ah there, Lish! Thought you'd sleep all morning. I've been disabusing Master Irants of illusions; tell you later. While Minyev's out finding us a ship, why don't we take a dekko at Vuzhov's tower, if you're up to it? You could write a learned paper on that."
The sky, for once, was clear. Vuzhov's tower rose at the west end of Kalwm City, amid an open area. Mjipa, who had examined the tower on his previous visits to Kalwm City, and Alicia came out from the narrow streets into this cleared space. Alicia was quick to say that this plaza had formerly been a mass of dwellings of the poor of the city. She pointed to lines of walling amid the rubble.
"You can see the house plans," she explained. "Small houses of mud brick. I'll bet the Heshvavu simply ordered the space cleared, and his people told the inhabitants to get out pronto. Then they knocked over the houses and hauled away the debris; but they never finished the job, so you can still see traces of what they did. Do you suppose they ever paid the people whose property they expropriated?"