Tired, Mjipa retired after supper. He had barely doffed his sandals when a knock announced the slave girl.
"I am clept Ovanel," she said, gracefully dipping and bobbing. She unfastened the exiguous kilt and tossed it aside, leaving her nude but for sandals and necklace. "Doth my lord wish to come in unto me now?"
"No, Ovanel," growled Mjipa. "Nobody goes in unto anybody tonight. Tell His Awesomeness I thank him, but ..."
While Mjipa tried to think of an excuse, the slave girl burst into tears. "An I fail to pleasure you, they will b-beat me, even as Qarar beat the king of 'Ishk!" she wailed.
"We cannot have that," grumpled Mjipa. "Tell them I am sick with headache."
"I hear and obey." Doffing her sandals, she stretched herself out on the floor beside Mjipa's narrow pallet. "Belike my lord would liefer futter me on the morrow?"
"No!" roared Mjipa. "Put that little garment back on and go back to the palace. Here!" He handed her a silver kard of Majbur, wondering how he should class the expenditure on his expense account. Pierce Angioletti, a very proper Bostonian, was severe in such matters."Tell them I enjoyed you so much I feared another would kill me. Now get along, little one."
For an instant, Ovanel seemed torn between outraged vanity at being sent away untried and joy at the money. At last she said: "Will ye do me one small favor, my lord?"
"What is?"
"Show me that Terran custom clept 'kissing', whereof we do hear rumors in the palace."
Mjipa dug his strong black fingers into his woolly hair.
"Jesus Christ almighty!" he groaned in English, adding, "Modimo wa kgolo!" in Setswana. In Khaldoni he said: "No, Ovanel dear, no can do. I made a religious vow. Now go before I beat you as Qarar did the king of 'Ishk!"
She went at last. Sweating heavily, Mjipa leaned against the door. To himself he said: Well, Percy, you came through with your damned honor intact, although it was teetering on the edge for a while. If you had laid a hand on her, or shown her what a kiss was, or let her stay the night... Maybe I'm just a damned fool. Maybe Vicky is right to twit me on my silly moralism; but she'd be the first to raise hell if I abandoned it. As the Americans say, you can't win. So you might as well face the fact and get some sleep.
After a day in Yein to rest men and animals, Mjipa set out for Kalwm. When the party reached the border, Lieutenant Spisov handed a note to the Kalwmians' commanding officer, and the two held a low conversation. Mjipa's people passed the night in a hut of the border guard and set out for Kalwm City next morning, accompanied by another junior officer. Ainkhist must have sent the note, Mjipa thought, urging the Kalwmians to watch the Terran and his party closely.
Back in Kalwm City, Mjipa sought out Minister Chanapar and told him of Ainkhist's demand. The Phathvum threw up his hands. "Gods above! You know the Heshvavu's attitude on that chart. As soon lift a bishtar with one hand as try to change it."
"My lord," said Mjipa, "you know something of the Terrans' power. We have orders not to interfere with the Krishnan states, but that does not mean we must quietly submit to every outrage perpetrated upon our fellow Terrans. "
Chanapar shrugged. "What you do to Khorosh is your affair. We in Kalwm are not responsible."
"But you—or rather, your Heshvavu—holds the key to this situation. Without that chart, I cannot even get to Zhamanak to right Khorosh's wrongs."
"That is unfortunate; but it does not alter the mind of His Awesomeness."
"Furthermore," Mjipa insisted, "you know that Terran influence is bound to increase among the Khaldoni nations, as travel between here and Novorecife becomes more frequent. A wise ruler would make sure of being on the right side 'of Novorecife before the problems that arise from such contacts manifest themselves."
Chanapar sighed. "You're as persistent as Gedik was when he sought to lasso the moons! But I fear me our Heshvavu's mind is not overly concerned with the ilk of future commercial advantages ..."
Mjipa returned to the Phathvum's office the next day, and the day after that. He argued, cajoled, and uttered veiled threats. Nothing moved the minister or, presumably, the king to whom he reported.
Between times, Mjipa canvassed the possibilities of more direct action. In theory one could, by leaving the road to Mejvorosh before reaching the Mutabwcian border, make a wide detour through the forest to reach the border of Zhamanak without crossing Mutabwcian territory. Mjipa studied maps, but these brought no comfort. Aside from the single road and the swath between the fences marking the borders, there were no roads through that region. Presumably there were game trails, but it would take years of living in the region to become familiar with them.
Allowing for the sloth of hacking one's way through a trackless tropical jungle, the detour would take several moons at least. Nor did Mjipa see how he could carry enough supplies to keep himself and his escort fed. He knew that few things in such a jungle were edible by Terrans, and it would take years to become adept at hunting or finding them. No, it would have to be the less heroic but more practical journey by road.
Mjipa approached his fourth visit to the Phathvum with some apprehension. During the last audience, Chanapar had shown an understandable eagerness to be rid of his importunate visitor. This time, Mjipa feared that the minister would refuse even to see him.
Chanapar, however, pleasantly surprised Mjipa. "Ah there, Master Terran! When you were here yesterday, said you not you would do us any favor within your power in return for that chart?"
"Yes, sir." Mjipa feared that the Phathvum was about to ask for Terran weapons, which request Mjipa would have to refuse. But Chanapar said:
"I have taken counsel with His Awesomeness, and he hath graciously advised me that there is, indeed, one such favor you can do."
"And that is?"
"Hast heard of the heretic, Doctor Isayin, soon to be tried for spreading subversive notions about the shape of the world?"
"I have. What about him?"
"The trial opens on the morrow. Facing a delicate political situation, the Heshvavu is anxious that nought interfere with the orderly conduct of this trial. A rumor hath got abroad that Terrans, whom the common folk credit with exaggerated wisdom, uphold quiddities like unto Isayin's about the shape of the world. We cannot have that sort of thing in an orderly, well-run kingdom."
"Well, sir?" said Mjipa, puzzled.
"To counteract this rumor, His Awesomeness would have a Terran testify at the trial; that he aver that a substantial number of Terrans hold a view like unto the official one here. And here you are."
"You mean," said Mjipa, "that you want me to appear at this trial as a witness and testify that I think your world is flat?"
"You and a substantial number of others of your kind." As Mjipa looked as if he were about to burst into speech, Chanapar held up a hand. "Nay, tell me not whether you agree with that opinion. I had liefer not know. Do but answer 'Aye' to the questions the prosecutor will put, and you shall have your copy of the genealogical chart."
Jaw set, Mjipa stared at the floor. The proposal was intensely distasteful. To swear in court to an absurd opinion was dishonorable, all the more so if his testimony would help convict a brave, enlightened Krishnan servant. At last Mjipa asked:
"If Isayin is convicted, what will be done to him?"
"That is for the justicers to decide. It can be aught from ten years' imprisonment to death."
Mjipa pondered further. If he refused, there was little chance that he would get to Zhamanak, and the gods of Krishna only knew what would become of Alicia Dyckman. While Mjipa tried to be fair to Krishnans, in a question of a Terran's life against a Krishnan's, the Terran would have to be a scoundrel indeed before Mjipa would side against his own species.