"Will this incident derail Dumfries's project? I could see from his neck spines that Dumfries and Cantemir made Yaamo pretty angry."
"For a while, maybe. But Dumfries makes huge amounts from his Holy Gnostic Church. He knows how to use it to dissolve away opposition, as acid eats metal. The worst is, he's probably sincere. Thinks he's doing the will of God—or those Demiurges he talks about. So we'd better make the most of our time."
"Wouldn't the IC step in? They talk a fine line against planetary imperialism."
"If the reverend can get enough of his people on Kukulcan—and I hear he hopes to bring in thousands—he can shrug off the Interplanetary Council on the ground that it's an internal planetary matter."
III – The Unriu Express
Two days later, Epsilon Eridani had not yet risen when Kirk Salazar reached the railway station. Carrying Salazar's duffel bag, Choku followed. Salazar had stored some of his gear at Levontin's.
Other members of the Patel Society's field trip stood on the platform, stamping and waving their arms against the pre-dawn chill. Terran passengers clustered beside the last car of the Unriu Express. This was the only car showing an attempt to meet Terran standards of comfort, having a roof over its red-painted body. A passenger car for Kooks was merely a flatcar with a railing around its deck. Kooks thought nothing of standing for hours, clutching the rail, or squatting on the deck, swaying with the motion.
The car before the Terran or "soft-fare" unit was an unrailed flatcar whereon four Kook station workers were piling passengers' baggage. Having given Salazar's bag to the workers, Choku said:
"Honorable boss, I understand not why you Terrans need to travel with such mountainous masses of luggage. I have gone all over Sunga and the mainland with no more gear than I now have in my pouches."
"Just a point of Kukulcanian superiority," said Salazar. "In my case, however, the fact that I have to lug some scientific instruments and recording devices gives me an excuse." He approached the Ritters, asking: "Will Cantemir be with us today? It might make things a bit sticky."
"Don't worry," said Hilbert Ritter. "George has more brass than a samovar, but this time he won't be around. Yesterday he bought four jutens, for himself and his three Kooks, and took off early for Sungara. He'd have used the express except that it runs only on alternate days. Jack Ravitch heard him say he could make his base camp by hard riding, sore foot and all, faster than if he took the local to Amoen and rode a local animal from there."
Salazar thought. "Maybe he figured he'd better get all his lumbering preparations done before the chief makes up his mind on whether to order him off the island. With the speed things move among the Kooks, he could get a lot done before the word got to him up on the mountain."
"You're an astute little fellow," said Ritter, making Salazar wince. "If George remained here, he'd never know when a pair of Kook cops would grab him and hustle him aboard an outbound ship."
"Poor Miss Axelson is heartbroken," said Suzette Ritter. "He visited her room the night before last, and whatever he gave her, I guess she was looking forward to more of it."
Up forward, two railed flatcars preceded the baggage car. Beyond them the little locomotive was slowly backing. Salazar said:
"Excuse me a minute!"
He hurried forward, because the details of railroading had long beguiled him. Kook railroads ran on tracks that in Terran terms had a gauge of 141.8 centimeters, just a shade narrower than that of most Terran railroads. This worked out to a handier figure in Kukulcanian units. The Sunga railroad was converting from a coupling of the chain-and-buffer type to an automatic coupling like Terra's Janning coupler. All the newer rolling stock therefore had two couplings on each end, one of the chain type and, above it, one of the Janning kind. When automatic couplings were in use, the chains were allowed to dangle.
The locomotive had a vertical boiler with a lofty stack, puffing coal smoke. Forward rose a mass of driving machinery. Four vertical pistons in a line whirled a crankshaft, joined to the axles by gearing. There seemed to be a gear-shift mechanism. Behind the boiler rose a small cab, and abaft the cab was the coal bin in place of a separate tender.
In low gear, the locomotive backed up to the leading flatcar. The couplings met with a clank. On the locomotive, the firekook shoveled coal through a trapdoor.
From aft came the sound of a gong. Salazar threaded his way through the crowd of fishy-smelling Kooks, who were scrambling up on the railed flatcars. He passed the Kook conductor, holding his copper gong at arm's length with one clawed hand and whaling it with a mallet in the other.
On the baggage car, loading had been completed and the load secured by lashing down a tarpaulin of coarse gray Kukulcanian canvas. As Salazar passed that car, Choku spoke in Sungao:
"Is all correct for you, honorable Sarasara?"
"All is fine. Come on back with me."
"Are you sure, good sir? Terrans like it not to have us human beings in the same enclosures with them. They say we stink. When they come amongst us, we are too polite to complain of their smell."
"Oh, come on, Choku! With that car so open, they will have naught to complain of."
"Very well, sir, if you say so." Choku followed Salazar back to the scarlet soft-class car.
Tchitchagov was herding the last of his flock aboard. He called out: "Hey, Salazar! Hurry up!"
Suzette Ritter leaned out of the car and called: "Kirk! Come sit with us!"
"Is it okay if I bring my assistant?" He gestured at Choku.
"Sure; there's plenty of room."
Salazar climbed the step. The interior was lined with benches, alternately parallel and perpendicular to the sides, forming a series of alcoves without partitions. The crimson sides of the car arose from the floor about a meter and stopped, save for rows of posts supporting the roof. From the undersides of the wall plates—the longitudinal members joining the tops of the posts—hung a series of rolled-up curtains to lower in bad weather. Otherwise the car was open to the ambient air. A compartment at one end contained a toilet and a washbasin; another at the other end served for storage.
Two-thirds of the seating space was filled by members of the Patel Society and a few other Terrans. There were no Kooks. Salazar took the seat the Ritters were saving in one of the alcoves and motioned Choku to another seat. Following Salazar, Tchitchagov entered the car and stood at the end, counting heads on his fingers. He said:
"Hokay, all present. Doctors Ritter, may I sit with you?"
Receiving assent, he lowered his lank form into the remaining seat in the alcove. Presently he said: "I wonder what George Cantemir is up to mat he returned to Amoen in such a hurry?"
"Besides wanting to get away from Yaamo's cops," said Ritter, "do you think he'll try some devilry?"
Tchitchagov shrugged. "How should I know? From all I hear, he and Dumfries are very determined men. Be prepared for anything."
"Where is the Reverend now?" asked Salazar.
The tall Suvarovian shrugged again. "As far as I know, he is staying in Sungecho. I do not think you are likely to encounter him on Sungara; he is too fat for mountaineering."
"From what I heard," said Salazar, "those two plan to wipe out the local wildlife to make room for Terran settlement. I can't imagine that Yaamo would sit quietly while a horde of Terrans took over his island."
Hilbert Ritter said: " Yaamo's in kind of a cleft stick. He wants to modernize his Kooks just as fervently as Dumfries wants to turn Kukulcan into a second Terra, ruled by his own species. But Yaamo needs money. Dumfries has it, in incredible amounts, which he will pay out to Yaamo to keep him quiet while he infiltrates Sunga with his followers."