The Stones of Nomuru

VII – THE EMPRESS

Kara arrived the following evening. Over a late dinner, she asked: "Keith, why are we riding these junior dinosaurs? Why don't we go to Henderson and take trains to Suvarov and Machura? It's not much more roundabout and would be lots more comfortable."

"Bergen's passed the word that he'd like the planet better without me. So, until I see how my talks with Miyage and Gariko turn out, I don't care to let Bergen draw a bead on me."

Salazar had intended to leave the day after Kara's arrival, but delays in collecting supplies and buying extra jutens held them up for another day. In the afternoon, Kara tried out her new juten. She teetered uncertainly in the saddle.

"Oh, dear!" she said. "If this thing ever starts or stops suddenly, I'll fall off on my head like the White Knight. If only I had stirrups!"

"I've ordered some in Neruu," said Salazar, standing beside her mount, "but they'll take at least an eight-day. Hey, I just had an idea!"

He stepped in front of the juten, grasped one of its short, clawed forelimbs, and wrapped the digits around Kara's booted ankle. To the juten he said: "Tettai!" meaning "hold."

After several trials, he persuaded the beast to retain its grip on the ankle. He rewarded it with a salt tablet and went to work on the other forelimb. At the end of an hour, at the command "Tettai!" the juten would obediently grasp its rider's ankles.

"Now how do I get loose?" said Kara.

"That's another lesson." Salazar commanded "Guu-chai!" and unpeeled the juten's fingers.

After another hour the animal, seduced by salt tablets, would grasp and release its rider's ankles on command. Salazar said: "If we can train the other jutens to do this, we shan't need stirrups! I suppose the Kooks never thought of it because, with those talons on their feet, they've never needed to. Let's see if you can train my Daffodil to do likewise!"

During the extra day, Sesao continued Oikisha's Shongo lessons. Salazar reported to Kara: "Sensao will go with us as far as Shongaro, where Chief Sambyaku hangs out."

"How are the language lessons doing?"

"First-rate; Kooks have marvelous memories. Tell Oikisha that 'water' in Shongo is mudai, and she's got it permanently. Wish I were so good."

"On the other hand," said Kara, "such good memories might account for their ultra-conservatism. That can be a disadvantage."

"Especially," added Salazar, "in conflict with a technologically more advanced species. Oh, well, any virtue overdone becomes a vice."

The next morning saw the departure of Salazar, Kara, Oikisha, and Sensao, each on a juten with a fifth beast to carry baggage. They dropped Sensao off at Shongaro and briefly paid their respects to Chief Sambyaku. As they continued on toward Biitso, the capital of High Chief Miyage, Salazar said to Kara:

"It's hard to work up warmth of feeling for Kooks, with their robotic personalities; but I guess Sambyaku's the closest to a friend that I have among them. I can't help being prejudiced toward him, after he saved my life in that brouhaha with Bergen at Neruu."

Oikisha pulled her mount up beside Salazar's to continue her linguistic exercises. Salazar, whose own Shongo was for from perfect, was hard put to it to act as teacher. Moreover, as Oikisha's vocabulary expanded, she began asking questions.

Was it true that they came from another world? Was it true that the world was round? If so, why did people not foil off it? Why was Salazar digging holes in the ground? Why was he interested in old ruins? How long had Kara been his mate? How many offspring did they have? When Salazar said none, she asked: Was the female Terran an onnifa like Oikisha? How could she be a lawful mate if barren?

When the questions became painful, Salazar said: "Enough, Oikisha. I must rest my voice."

"Never saw such curiosity," he told Kara. "Most Kooks show little interest in Terran affairs."

"She must be exceptionally bright," replied Kara. "Cabot says they vary over as wide a spectrum in intelligence, from genius to moron, as Terrans do."

Nightfall found the party on the road. The country through which they passed was pleasant, with cultivated fields neatly separated by orderly strips of woodland. Salazar said: "Here's a nice little grove, and I'm sure the draw ahead has a creek at the bottom. Let's send Oikisha to fetch water and then pitch the tent here."

Later, fed and relaxed, Salazar and Kara were stretched out in their sleeping bags on the floor of the tent. Salazar said:

"Good-night; sleep—Hey!"

A Kookish head was thrust through the flap into the tent. Salazar switched on his flashlight and reached for his pistol before he saw that it was Oikisha, her big yellow eyes aglow in the beam. He said in Shongo:

"What is it, Oikisha?"

The onnifa replied in halting Shongo.

"What's she saying?" asked Kara sleepily.

Salazar gulped. "I'll be dammed."

"Doubtless you will be, according to the Reverend Ragnarsen; but what is she saying?"

"She wants to see how we do it."

"Do what?"

"Oh, come on! To be precise, she wishes to observe us in copulation."

"Keith! Is this some low scheme of yours—"

"Absolutely not!" he exclaimed hotly. "I promised I wouldn't make a pass. I wouldn't touch you if you stripped naked and wriggled into my bag with me!"

"You'd have a tough time not doing so, considering how narrow these bags are. But I have no intention of giving a demonstration."

"Let me think. If I say we just don't do it before witnesses, she might pop in unexpectedly in hopes of catching us in flagrante—I have it!" He spoke at length to Oikisha, who stared and said in Shongo:

"Honorable sir, do you swear by the spirits of your ancestors?"

"Yes. Now please leave us to sleep."

The beaked, reptilian head reluctantly withdrew. Kara asked: "What did you tell her?"

"I said we did it without physical contact, by telepathy. I impregnated you by thinking beautiful thoughts at you. I'm not sure how much she understood, and she didn't seem fully convinced. They think all Terrans are liars anyway."

Kara sputtered with laughter. "I'm sure some of the men at the News have thought beautiful thoughts at me; but none has impregnated me yet!"

"I think beautiful thoughts at you all the time," said Salazar. "What's wrong with a little harmless pleasure?"

"Keith! Get your mind above my waist!"

"But darling, you used to love our love-making. Remember—"

"I used to like filegrass rum, too, until I found it disagreed with me. I'm sure I haven't given you any encouragement!"

"Your mere presence is encouragement enough."

"Nonsense! You were never so sex-mad when we were married."

"Does a fish in the river think about water? Whether you mean to be or not, to me you're more seductive than Eve ever was to Ad—"

"Good-night, Keith!"

A little grumpily, he replied:

Next morning, Kara was aroused by feint grunts. She opened her eyes to see Salazar in his underwear doing push-ups on the canvas floor of the tent. He finally gave up and lay panting. When he recovered his breath, he said:

"Damn! Can't get past ten; must be getting soft. Will you hold down my ankles while I do sit-ups?"

She gripped his ankles. "You're certainly fit enough, with the hard work you do on the dig. Why do you need these calisthenics?"

He grinned impishly. "Best way I know to make sure I shan't crawl in my sleep."

Biitso was larger than Neruu but less industrialized. The houses were simple blocks of wood and stone, without external ornament save for painted symbols in a kaleidoscope of colors, like those with which the dwellers embellished their own scaly hides.

Salazar found his way to the house of High Chief Miyage, a "palace" only by virtue of being slightly larger than those of its neighbors. Salazar gave his name to the spear-armed guards at the door, requesting speech with the High Chief.

The guard returned, saying: "The High Chief refuses to admit you."

"Now what the hell?" exclaimed Salazar. He explained to Kara.

"Has he," she wondered, "a grudge against Terrans in general? Or you in particular?"

"I suspect it's me, on account of a boundary dispute I was called into last year." He spoke again to the guard: "Tell the High Chief that I have weighty news concerning his chieftainship: that he feces a Chosha invasion!"

Again the guard departed and returned. "The High Chief will not hear you. Furthermore, he commands you to go away and cease disturbing him."

"Well, he can't say I didn't try to warn him—" began Salazar, when High Chief Miyage himself appeared in the portal with an escort of spearmen and musketeers.

Sighting Salazar and his companion, he rasped: "I sent orders for you to depart, Terran!" His tongue flicked out.

"But, Your Highness, you are betrayed! Conrad Bergen has a secret deal with Prophet Kampai—"

"Away with you! You are a liar and a troublemaker, as you showed by assaulting my friend Bergen. He has told me about your plots and perfidies. Will you go, or must I have you whipped out of town?"

Salazar had quietly unsnapped the flap of his pistol holster and placed his hand on the butt. The guards and some of the escort brought their spears up to port, while a couple of musketeers cocked their weapons.

"Careful, Keith!" breathed Kara, also fingering her pistol.

"I know," he muttered. "I could take a couple with me, but then we'd be dead. Let's go!"

The two walked away to where Oikisha held their jutens. As they mounted and rode off, Salazar said: "I was tempted to tell him off; but somehow 'Copulate Your Highness!' doesn't have the same clout that it has in the English equivalent."

"Besides," added Kara, "he might have simply said: 'Shoot them!' I believe that once happened to a journalist on Terra, who got sassy with a Latin American dictator."

Leaving Biitso behind, the travelers set up then-next camp under threatening gray skies streaked with lightning. Kara Sheffield, sitting on the floor of the tent while rain drummed on the canvas, said: "Keith, you've got to teach me the elements of Shongo. If we got separated in this country ..."

"I'll try," said Salazar. "First, forget the Indo-European categories: nouns, verbs, and so forth, with their usual inflections. The Shongorin have substantives, predicatives, and operatives ..."

An hour later, she said: "If I try to make those horrible sounds any more, I'll have a sore throat."

"Enough for one night." After a roll of thunder died, he went on: "I started to ask you something when the Choshas interrupted. Are you thinking of getting married again?"

"I've considered it. I've had plenty of propositions and a couple of real proposals. But I guess I'm too fussy. I'd want a man with all your good qualities, but one I could absolutely depend upon. There aren't many such paragons around."

Salazar sighed. "If you insist on a faultless man, you'll have to wait for the Second Coming; and Jesus never promised to reappear here as well as on Terra."

"I try to be realistic," said Kara, adding: "Why hasn't Cabot Firestone remarried?"

The warmth of her tone aroused a pang of jealousy in Salazar. "I suppose he's too wrapped up in memories of his wife. They were an exceptional couple, almost obscenely happy with each other."

"Oh? That's sad. When you do find one of those rare perfect couples ... Anyway, that puts him out of the running, at least for now." She sounded disappointed.

"Why?" asked Salazar.

"I could never compete with the ghost of a perfect wife." She slid into her bag. "Good-night, Keith."

"Good-night, Kara." A little spring of hope began to bubble. If I just keep after her, he thought, she might yet come around ...

In Machura, the streets were noisy and polluted by the smoke of steam cars and trucks. The palace of Empress Gariko was simply a larger version of the modest home of High Chief Miyage in Biitso. When Salazar requested one of the door guards for an audience with Her Imperial Majesty, the guard went in and returned half an hour later, saying that Her Majesty's secretary had made an appointment for a meeting eleven days hence. He spoke in Feënzuo, of which Shongo was a dialect; the Shongorin, however, insisted the opposite: that Feënzuo was a dialect of Shongo. In any case, Salazar could, with difficulty, follow his speech.

When Salazar had translated the message, Kara said: "Good heavens! It seems that Kookish bureaucracies are even harder to deal with than ours."

"You have to know the tricks," said Salazar. To the guards he said: "Kindly inform Her Imperial Majesty that the matter concerns the boundary stones of the Emperor Hamashti."

This time, the guard returned to say: "Pray, honorable sir and madam, follow me!"

The guard led them into a small chamber adjacent to the portal, empty save for a number of cushions scattered about the floor. The guard said: "Honorable sir, Her Majesty commands that you wait here until called for, and that you request aught needed for your comfort."

"Thank you; we shall be comfortable," said Salazar.

When the guard had gone, Kara asked: "What was it you said? 'Open sesame!'?"

Salazar explained: "Last year, Gariko called me in to see if I could settle a nasty dispute between her and High Chief Miyage over the Shongosi-Feënzun boundary. Emperor Hamashti set up boundary stones over a century ago; but where these ran across a flood plain, they'd been buried in silt. Miyage, who's an aggressive bastard, claimed land half a kilometer northwest of the line where the Empress thought the boundary was established."

"What did you do?"

"We couldn't dig up the whole valley; but I blackmailed Skanda Patel into letting me take out our precious GPR—"

"What's that?"

"Ground-penetrating radar. Skanda hangs onto it like a drowning man to an oar, since it's the only one on Kukulcan and at our stage of development irreplaceable. With the help of a professor from the engineering department, I made a hot-air balloon. We took it to the border and inflated it, and I went up with the GPR. One of Gariko's troopers, mounted on his juten, held the anchor rope and towed the contraption back and forth across the valley.

"That was one hairy trip! I had to fiddle with the GPR controls with one hand and pump the bellows with the other, to keep the fire up. If I let it die a little, I started down. The job called for two people, but we didn't have enough lift. Then, just as I finished noting my data, the trooper's juten happened to look up. I guess it took the balloon for some sort of fire-breathing dragon, because it let out a screech and bolted.

"The Kook soldier let go of the rope to clutch his saddle, leaving me gaining altitude. I pulled the valve cord to release hot air, but without first checking wind speed and direction and calculating where I'd come down. As a result, the basket plopped down right in the middle of a nice little bog. I had quite a time, wading in slime up to my knees and keeping the GPR out of the mud."

"Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Yep. We dug up three of Hamashti's stones, right where Gariko claimed the boundary was. They were inscribed, roughly speaking: 'I am the great and glorious Hamashti, Emperor of Feënzun. I am the strongest of the strong, the bravest of the brave, the wisest of the wise, and the purest of the pure.' He forgot to add 'the most modest of the modest,' but went on: 'I have caused these stones to be set up on the line between my Empire and the Shongosi Chieftainship. If any person should deface or remove them, may the spirits of his ancestors disown him!' So you see why Miyage, aside from being a nasty fellow to begin with, doesn't love me."

"I hope this Empress isn't such a megalomaniac."

"That was just the customary style in Hamashti's time. Gariko's less toplofty and formal. Many Feënzurin don't like the change; they grumble that she's been corrupted by Terran discourtesy and is betraying the sacred customs of her ancestors."

"What did you mean about blackmailing Doctor Patel?"

Salazar chuckled. "You know how self-righteous he is? But I learned of certain irregularities in his domestic affairs. I didn't threaten him or anything so crude, just gentle hints."

"What irregularities?"

"Ask me no questions—well, I don't mind saying that Skanda has a large, fat, domineering wife named Toinette and four children. I don't know whether her bullying causes him to stray or his straying leads her to bully. That's for Cabot Firestone to figure out."

"Cabot took me out to dinner—" began Kara.

The guard reappeared. "You may come now, sir and madam."

Squatting on a cushion on a dais, Empress Gariko was larger than High Chief Miyage, and the symbols that embellished her scales were of painted gold. Several golden chains were draped around her neck. Her reptilian head bore a tiara, shaped like those metal bands that held Terran earmuffs in place. This head band was skillfully crafted of gold filigree set with precious stones—rubies, emeralds, and sapphires —which winked in the lamplight.

Salazar approached the Empress and bowed; Kara, watching him for clues, did likewise. In Shongo, Salazar said: "Good day to you! Is Your Imperial Majesty in good health?"

"Thank the Universal Law," she replied, "we are in good health. Is the learned Terran in good health?"

"Thank the Universal Law, my health is good. Is all well with Your Majesty's clan?"

"Thanks to our ancestral spirits, all is well ..."

The ritual exchange went on for over five minutes. Salazar muttered out of the side of his mouth: "With one of her rank, strict formality is essential." Then Salazar was nearly startled out of his skin as the Empress, in the midst of the courtly phrases, interjected in accented but understandable English:

"You are quite right, Sarasara; this is a penalty of my lofty station."

When the formalities ended, Gariko picked up one of her little glass-paned boxes with cranks for rolling the scroll within and studied the printing to refresh her memory. Then, looking at her visitors, she said in Shongo: "We are glad to see you again, honorable Sarasara. Are we correct in thinking that the female with you was formerly your mate? We find it difficult to be sure with Terrans; you all look so much alike. One cannot even rely upon your outer coverings to distinguish you, because you are ever changing them. Are we right about the female?"

"How did Your Majesty know?" said Salazar in ill-concealed amazement.

Salazar had a feeling that if Gariko had been physically capable of smiling, she would have smiled. She said: "How could we protect our realm without many sources of information at our command? Am I to believe that you twain have again become mates?"

Salazar winced at the question. Beside him, Kara whispered:

"What's she saying?"

Salazar waved her query aside. "No, Your Majesty. We are merely friends, and Miss Sheffield comes to obtain information for the newspaper on which she works."

"Send us a copy of her story when it appears. And now let us to business." Gariko called to the guards, "Go outside, all of you, and close the door."

When the guards had vanished, Gariko said in her parrotlike English: "I prefer that they do not hear me speaking Terran; they think that it violates tradition and demeans my high office. Sarasara, unless I can crack the crust of custom and precedent, which imprisons my people, I fear trouble from you aliens. But I must move cautiously, lest they accuse me of being un-Feënzish."

"Your Majesty's English astonishes me," said Salazar. "Last time you professed ignorance of the speech."

"I try to learn what I think I shall need for all contingencies. I am now working on Russian. Kak vi pozhivayetye?"

Salazar, whose Russian was rudimentary, thought furiously and stammered: "Khorosho—uh—spasibo!"

"Good! When I have mastered Russian, I shall begin on Chinese, to deal with the Terrans of Gueilin. Now to work. What is this about Hamashti's boundary markers?"

"Your Majesty, your boundary with Shongosi is menaced by a much greater threat than Miyage." Salazar told of his capture by the Choshas and of Prophet Kampai's plans for conquest and extermination. "Miyage has spurned my attempt to warn him, being under the influence of Conrad Bergen—"

"I have a file on Mr. Bergen," said Gariko. "It is reported that he intends to plow up the site of Nomuru for a construction project of his own."

Salazar opened his mouth to speak, but the Empress briskly continued: "I know something of your science of archaeology. With their reverence for tradition, perhaps my people could come to appreciate it. In fact, I wish to send a few likely youths to the Terrans to study the science, which our savants should have developed on their own long ago.

"Let us now review our respective aims, to ascertain how we can help one another. You wish to forestall Mr. Bergen, whereas my paramount duty is to safeguard my borders. The logical course for me is to strengthen the defenses, to refurbish the border fortresses and build others. My spies do not tell me that the Prophet is making cannon, without which he cannot capture the forts."

"A purely defensive strategy, Your Majesty?"

"It is the best that I can envisage. The Choshas are formidable foes, having the hardiness that nomadic life requires. Since their warriors are all mounted, they move fester than our foot soldiers. Therefore we always need an advantage of numbers at the point of contact."

"But, Your Majesty!" said Salazar. "What's to stop the Choshas from pouring into the Empire through the gaps between the forts and ravaging the country behind them?"

"As each band enters, we shall try to assemble enough troops from the fortresses and from the reserve units to outnumber them."

"Wouldn't it be better to occupy Shongosi and attack the Choshas in the Shongo lands?"

"I do not think that I could assemble a large enough force to give us an advantage in Shongosi," said Gariko. "You have not seen a mounted Chosha onset. Our musketeers can mow down the first rank of the attackers, but those behind keep coming and are upon our soldiers before they can reload."

The Feënzurin, it developed, did not have the bayonet. They were armed with long knives and tomahawks for hand-to-hand combat, but these were ineffectual against mounted Choshas.

"Affixing a knife to the end of a musket is a clever Terran idea," said Gariko. "I must command the army to investigate the matter; but that could not be done in time for this impending conflict. Some of our military people have always maintained that it was a mistake to give up the pike."

"Your Majesty," said Salazar, "are you familiar with Terran repeating firearms?"

"I have heard of them. One of our engineers undertook to invent one, although our officers scorned such guns as un-Feënzish. When he tested his device, it blew up and killed him, confirming the officers in their view."

"If I could get you repeating rifles to arm a company, would you then occupy Shongosi?"

"To what purpose? The Shongorin would resist, and we should be fighting them as well as the Choshas."

"If you could destroy the Chosha army afar, you would save much loss of life and property in Feënzun."

"If, if!" said Gariko impatiently. "Even if this Terran-armed company defeated the Choshas, how would that benefit your archaeological project? Unless he were slain in the fighting, your Mr. Bergen would then resume his development after we left Shongosi."

"Why not, Your Majesty, extend a permanent rule over Shongosi?"

"But," said Gariko, "the independence of Shongosi is guaranteed by the treaty with my predecessor Hamashti. It is entirely un-Feënzish to march in and conquer a neighbor without a valid reason. Now that the boundary dispute has been settled through your good efforts, Miyage has avoided provocation."

"Once the Choshas have crossed the Shongo border," said Salazar, "you can rush to their aid, whether they ask for it or not. Afterward I am sure your legalists can find a pretext for staying. They could cite Miyage's stubborn refusal to prepare, despite warnings."

Gariko gave a hiss that was the equivalent of a Terran sigh. "Sarasara, you Terrans are too subtle for us simple, honest human beings. How would all this help your archaeological project? Unless he were killed, Mr. Bergen would continue his work. I should have to honor his contract with the Shongo chiefs. We take such agreements more seriously than, I fear, your fellow Terrans do."

"Does Your Majesty know about national parks?"

"What is a national park?"

Salazar told of the great Terran parks for the protection of scenic wonders, wild life, and relics of antiquity; places like Yellowstone, Serengeti, and the Summer Palace at Beijing. "If you enable me to continue my work at Nomuru, it will not only solve historical problems but also furnish your people with an object lesson. My work will show how great a nation can become and how far it can fall. A park, with guards and attendants, would be a national show place, glorifying Feënzun, inspiring the young, and adding to the Empire's revenue."

"You have given me much food for thought, Sarasara. I shall have to consider your proposals. I must now dismiss you to receive a trading mission. You and your traveling companion shall be accommodated in the palace. I regret that I cannot invite you to dine. My people regard eating with Terrans as a shocking departure from custom. I dare not upset too many ancient traditions at one time."

The Empress cried a command in her own tongue. The guards returned, and a pair of palace servants led Salazar and Kara to a suite. When these attendants explained that they were there to serve the Terrans during their stay, Salazar arranged to have the lighter baggage brought in, his servant Oikisha accommodated, and the jutens fed and stabled.

The spacious suite was lit by several torcheres, whence protruded wavering yellow-white flames fueled by a plant oil. Like most Kookish dwellings, the apartment reeked with the dead-fish smell of Kooks plus the sour-sweet odor of this household illuminant.

Since there was not a chair in the palace, the attendants fetched two cushions and placed a stump-legged table between them. When Salazar and Kara were seated with as much comfort as they could manage, the servants brought an unopened bottle of Henderson's best "whiskey," a pitcher of water, and two mugs, which they set on the table. The senior attendant asked:

"When do you wish dinner, honorable sir?"

"In about an hour," Salazar replied, pouring two drinks. When he told Kara what he had ordered, she protested:

"Keith! I hope you're not planning to get drunk in all that time!"

He smiled. "No, my dear; to relax to that extent in Kookland I should have to be certifiably insane." He swallowed a gulp. "But this should wash out the taste of the advice I gave the Empress."

"What do you mean?"

"I recommended the pretexts for naked aggression that European imperialists employed in conquering other continents, in the four hundred years that began with Columbus. If somebody else did it, I should call him a scoundrel; but it was the only way I could see to save the site. Now I shall call my people. Do take a sip; the stuffs not bad."

Salazar pressed buttons on his poignette and presently heard Galina's voice, tiny and tinny with distance. "Allo? Hello?"

"Keith speaking," said Salazar. "How's the dig?"

"Splendid! Sambyaku's workers arrived the day before yesterday. We have uncovered that wall down to the footing for a length of four meters. We have come upon the remains of an earlier brick wall at right angles to it, and evidently older; the stone wall cuts through the upper courses of the brick. The stone wall must have been built when the ground level had risen to—"

"Please!" said Salazar. "Conclusions can wait until we have all the data. What else have you found?"

"I am trying to tell you. At the end of the four meters we have uncovered, the stone wall turns at a right angle; and in the angle of the wall we have found a lot of ceramic cylinders, about ten centimeters in diameter and sixty or seventy long. We pulled one out, and Marcel pried off the cap. Inside was a scroll of some sort of leather, tanned by that Kook process which preserves it for centuries—"

"I hope you didn't try to unroll it!" cried Salazar. "It'll crumble into fragments unless treated in the laboratory first."

"No, we did not, although I had to slap Marcel's hands to stop him."

"How many cylinders are there?"

"We don't know. We uncovered the tops of perhaps ten or twelve more."

"Listen carefully, Galina. Cover the exposed cylinders with dirt, and make sure none of you says a word of this to anyone—"

"You think this might be the library of King Bembogu?"

"Can't tell yet."

"When are you coming back?"

"In a few days, I hope," said Salazar. "Any trouble with Bergen's crew?"

"No. The machines have not arrived. He has a man out here every few days to see how we're doing, but nobody has tried to stop us. Mr. Pokrovskii came by yesterday to say that the contract has been signed and the bulldozer will soon be here."

Salazar grunted. "That changes things. Hold on. Let me think." After a silence he said: "Take pits A1, A3, and A5 along the northern side. You and the Kooks dig all three down to a depth of two meters."

"But we cannot do that and keep a record of the finds, stratum by stratum!"

"I know, but we're in a hurry. Have them pile the dirt from each ten-centimeter layer in a separate pile near the pit. Put stakes in the piles, labeled so we can tell which is which. We'll sieve the piles later. Sloppy archaeology, but it can't be helped.

"Then lay a tarp over each of those three pits. Hold it down with rocks around the edge—use ones from the ancient wall if you have to, but paint numbers on them—and spread a coat of dirt over the canvas, so it looks like undisturbed soil."

"You mean to make pitfalls, the way the primitive Kook tribes catch big game?"

"Yep. Don't do it while Bergen's men are there. If they give trouble, don't do anything rash. I'd rather lose the site than my team."

Salazar exchanged greetings with Frappot and Kurita and clicked off. He next called Firestone's apartment. After greetings he said:

"Oh, about as well as could be expected. Her Imperial Majesty has a soft place for me in whatever Kooks have for a heart, as a result of that boundary business. We're working up a deal, but I can't tell you now."

"May I speak with him?" asked Kara.

"Sure." Salazar unstrapped and handed over the poignette. Kara and Firestone went through a simple, banal set of greetings and inquiries; but Salazar noted a warmth in Kara's tone that he had not heard from her since her first arrival at Nomuru.

He thought, does this mean that my best friend and I are rivals for my ex-wife? That would be a sticky one, worthy of an Italian opera! Salazar did not worry about competition from Bergen, since Kara was not one to forgive a black eye. But Cabot ...

Kara handed back the poignette. As he strapped the instrument on his wrist, Salazar noted the date it showed in the calendar that Terrans had devised for Kukulcan. The familiarity of the date nagged his mind until it burst upon him that it was exactly ten years, Kukulcanian time, since he and Kara had first been married.

A little shaken, he said: "I think we can drink, now." He raised his mug. "Kara, do you know what day this is?"

"Why ... Fourteen Quintilis, isn't it?"

"Yep. But doesn't the day mean something to you?"

The green-gray eyes under the dark curls gave him a level stare that pierced him like a sword of ice. "No."

"But—but it's—"

"I know what you mean. Let's say the date meant something to me once, but it doesn't any more."

Feeling like a deflated balloon, Salazar slumped, took a gulp, and stared at the floor. Anger, sorrow, and self-reproach struggled for command of his psyche. He suddenly felt old, although with modern medicine he could look forward to a century or more of active life.

Kara's voice came as if from afar. "Sorry, Keith; but you asked."

As Salazar continued to stare morosely, she said: "The Empress doesn't seem like a typical Kook."

The archaeologist roused himself. "She's a superior Kookess; her outlook is closer to ours than the rest of her species. That's one of her problems. She sees the need for change, but the inertia of Kookish culture makes Terran conservatism look wildly radical. So whenever Gariko plans to introduce some departure from established ways, she's skating on thin ice."

Kara asked: "Is there an Emperor? A Mr. Gariko?"

"Gariko has a consort, named Aobu or something. I understand he's a minor civil servant in her department of commerce."

"They don't make the consort a prince or a duke?"

"No; it's not a feudal system, but an impenetrable bureaucracy. All they give Aobu is an extra honorific, which could be translated as 'super-honorable' or "honorable squared.' Otherwise he shuffles his papers, writes his reports, and goes to service the Empress when she sends for him."

With a light laugh, she said: "Now that's the kind of husband a girl needs!"

"I suppose I could study up for the role."

"No; I had in mind someone like poor Derek Travers."

"That lad!"

"I know he was young; but for a job like this consort's—"

"Bilge, Kara! What a mature man lacks in speed he more than makes up for by—"

Salazar broke off as the attendants arrived with dinner, which' they set on the table. The archaeologist ate a spoonful of mush, made a face, and complained: "I suppose it's better than the bark of the rubagub tree; but that's all you can say for it." He poured another mug of quasi-whiskey.

Kara laughed. "I've always wondered how you manage to whip out those jingles on the spur of the moment. It would take me an hour with a rhyming dictionary."

Salazar shrugged. "Don't righty know; they seem to pop into my head."

Kara laughed again, then looked sharply at Salazar and changed the subject. "Tell me about some of the nutty characters you've known since we separated."

"Well, there was this dame from the Maravilla Society, who wanted to know where Earthmen stood in the Kooks' social scale of castes. When I explained that we were near the bottom, somewhere between migrant farm workers and collectors of fertilizer, she said: 'Well, we first human families on this planet obviously belong higher on the scale. Please find out, Professor, just where we should place ourselves.'

"The worst of it is, the woman likes me. She corners me for interminable talk, wasting my working time. She makes the Kooks' day-long speeches seem entertaining. I don't dare insult her, because her society furnishes a significant part of our funds." He paused, and then it was his turn to change the subject. "You heard the talk between Galina and me, about those cylinders they've unearthed."

"Yes, I did; and I'm eaten with curiosity. Do you think they've found the Bembogu library?"

"They've certainly found something; but it'll take months of treatment before we can unroll the scrolls, and more months to decipher and read them. It just could be as important for Kukulcanian history as Rassam's discovery of Ashurbanipal's library at Nineveh was for Terran history. Or again it may be a disappointment, like those countless Babylonian clay tablets that turn out, when translated, to say something like: 'Dear Sargon: When are you going to pay me for those fifty sheep?'

"Meanwhile, can I trust you to say absolutely nothing about the find until I give the word? You know why."

"You have my promise, Keith. But then, will you give me an exclusive?"

"Sure; glad to." He yawned. "Excuse me; but isn't it time we crawled into our cocoons?"

Since the palace had no beds, the travelers blew up their pneumatic pillows and inserted themselves into their sleeping bags. Kara said, "These folk seem amazingly indifferent to comfort."

"They're physically tough," said Salazar, "or maybe just insensitive. They think us self-indulgent sissies. Good-night, Kara dear."

Next morning, Empress Gariko leaned forward on her cushions and said in English: "Sarasara, tell me about these repeating guns."

"They are hidden in the University of Henderson Museum. If I can make certain arrangements, I could get them out and send them to you—provided that, when they have served their purpose, they shall be returned to the Museum; no one need know where they came from. And that when you rule Shongosi, you will set up a national park at Nomuru to enable me to continue my work there. I shall also need help in getting these munitions to Machura."

"What help would you need?"

Salazar pressed the calculating switch on his poignette and fed numbers into it. He said: "I shall need at least twelve kyuumeis—make that sixteen, in case some get sick or die on the road. There are twenty-four crates, and each kyuumei can bear two.

That means at least sixteen kyuumei herds. With such a party, there must be a captain or overseer."

"How about getting the guns out of the Museum? Must we break in with explosives? That calls for soldiers."

"No, Your Imperial Majesty. I have a key, and with able-bodied Feënzurin we can carry the stuff out at night and load it. Be sure your people are sworn to secrecy and bring plenty of rope."

"Will you stay here to lead the men and beasts to their destination?"

"I can't, Your Majesty," said Salazar. "I must return to Henderson to assure that we shall not be disturbed while loading."

"Then how shall we coordinate? How many days' travel is it to Henderson?"

"Six or seven, depending on how hard one pushes. The kyuumeis are slower; one should allow them at least twelve days."

"We have enough steam trucks in Machura to carry that load, and the road to Neruu would take them."

"I know, Your Majesty. But your trucks are noisy and conspicuous, with their great clouds of steam and smoke. Even if they crossed the Sappari by the ford without getting stuck, I could never get them in and out of Henderson without waking half the city and causing a stir among the Shongorin through whose lands they would pass. But strings of laden kyuumeis are common enough so that nobody would pay much attention to one more such caravan; and the trucks are not very much faster."

Gariko asked: "Do you seriously propose to return to Henderson to 'make arrangements,' come back here to lead your train of kyuumeis to Henderson, and then return to Machura? The war may be over by then."

"No, Your Majesty. If you'll appoint a caravan leader, I shall explain where to bring his train. Then I shall leave for Henderson, with him and his caravan following. I shall get in touch with your captain as soon as he arrives. When we return to Machura, I must instruct your picked company in the new weapons or they'll waste all their ammunition to no purpose. And now, I should like to ask a favor of Your Majesty."

"What favor?."

"You know my servant Oikisha, formerly a Chosha onnifa?"

"What about her?"

"I should like you to accept the transfer of her allegiance to Your Majesty."

"For what reason?"

Salazar explained the difficulty with the Chosha belief in the proper duty of an onnifa toward her master. "To still Oikisha's importunities, Miss Sheffield and I have had to pretend to be still mated. Since we are not, this is a nuisance."

Thoughtfully, Gariko said: "When a Terran speaks of pretending to be mates' with another, does this pretense extend to copulation?"

Flushing, Salazar said: "In this case, no. Our sexual customs are too complicated to explain here."

Gariko's neck spines rippled in a way that implied amusement. "I see that my questions cause that peculiar Terran emotion called 'embarrassment'; so I shall return to our previous subject. Why can you not simply dismiss Oikisha?"

Salazar explained the rules whereby Oikisha lived. "Since I wish neither to kill or be killed by her, I thought a transfer of allegiance would solve the problem. She is intelligent and a hard worker. Perhaps you could lend me one of your people to do our camp chores on the road to Henderson."

"Oh, very well," said Gariko. "I suppose I can find a use for her. Now I must choose your caravan leader. I shall give him a letter to High Chief Miyage, asking permission to send this train through his chieftainship. But—Sarasara, if I say the load on the return trip consists of Terran guns, he will never let it pass. He will on some pretext seize them for his own use."

"Tell him the crates contain agricultural implements," said Salazar, hiding a smile.

The Empress hissed again. "Ah, you tricky Terrans I But what if Miyage pries open a box to inspect the contents?"

"Doesn't Your Majesty have an imperial seal for personal property?"

"Excellent! I shall send with the kyuumeis a supply of seals and wire for attaching them. If you will return in two hours, I shall introduce you to your captain."