The Bones of Zora

VII - THE LANDING

All next day, Alicia subjected herself to Qa'di's confidences, taking endless shorthand notes. Glad to be relieved of that chore, Reith and Marot stood with elbows on the rail and watched the riverbank slide past. Marot said:

"Your Alicia is a most amazing woman. It is too bad that you and she could not—what is the expression? Make a do of it?"

"Make a go of it. Yes, it is too bad. We're one of those unlucky couples who can't live happily together and can't live happily apart, either." Reith stared moodily at the water wafting by. "I suppose each of us should have put more effort into trying to please the other. I'm often blunt, tactless, and dictatorial; while she has a temper that would make the surface of Roqir seem cool."

"She appears to retain a very warm affection for you, and I perceive that you entertain similar feelings. Is it likely that you two might make another attempt?"

"I've thought of that, and I'm sure she's thinking the same thing. I suppose that, having sampled the competition, she's decided I'm not quite the gloop she thought when she ran out on me." Reith sighed. "It would take careful thought. I don't intend to re-fight old battles, and one bath in lava is enough. So please, Aristide, don't try to play Cupid. It's something we have to work out for ourselves." Reith set his jaw and stared at the scenery. After a while he said: "We sure had luck that time! Those guards were told to look into all the sacks. So they opened a few, failed by chance to find us, got bored, and went back on deck telling the priest they'd opened them all."

Marot chuckled. "You have reason. We owe our lives to the fact that the Krishnan nature exhibits the same frailties as the human."

"But say! The Bákhites had orders to search the ship not only for us but also for your fossils. How would they know about them? Foltz thought he'd destroyed the specimen."

"He did not finish the job. After they captured him, he must have guided them back to the dig. Not seeing the pieces, he drew the obvious inference."

"Why should the Bákhites be so hot after these bones?"

Marot shrugged. "I suppose they think the fossil crucial evidence against their creation myth, which it is. In Darwin's day, people spoke of 'missing links.' Anti-evolutionists said: where is the link between apes and men? In time, not one link but whole chains of them were found.

"Ozymandias is a 'missing link' as important in its way as were Australopithecus and other ape-men. It shows how the transition from aquatic vertebrates to terrestrial ones took place on Krishna. If the Bákhites could destroy it, they could continue for a while to preach their Creation myth without fear of confutation."

"If Earthly experience is any guide," said Reith, "they'll go right on preaching their myth and collecting followers, regardless of scientific evidence."

As Roqir sank scarlet behind the forest, Reith wandered past Alicia and Qa'di. The Krishnan female was still chattering, but Reith observed that Alicia had ceased taking notes. She cast an appealing glance at Reith.

"Come along, Lish," he said. "Ship's passengers should walk at least a kilometer a day to keep in shape."

She rose, saying in English: "Thanks for die rescue. That girl had begun to repeat herself for the seventh time. I think I have all the data I can squeeze out of her, and she's a frightful bore."

"I suspected as much."

After walking, they stood at the rail, watching the green water. There was a stir on the surface, a splash, and a flash of leathery gray hide. Waves marched out in expanding rings from the center of the disturbance.

"An 'avval, I think," said Reith.

"That thing between a crocodile and a sea serpent?"

"Yes. The Zigros is not safe for a swim."

"I'm glad to have you watch out for me," she said, pressing against him.

Looking down at her, Reith suppressed a smile. Her last sentence was not in the least characteristic of the headstrong, belligerently independent Alicia he knew. It did not take a shrink to understand why she had said it; she was the world's most incompetent liar. Instead of voicing his thoughts, he slid an arm around her and kissed her; she responded warmly, squeezing him and flattening herself against him.

Aft at the tiller, with a cigar cocked at an angle in his jaw, Captain Sarf watched them. Spreading out from Novorecife, the Terran custom of kissing had been enthusiastically taken up by Krishnans. Alicia said:

"I know what's on your mind, Fergus Reith."

"I haven't said a word—"

"But you'll just have to wait till Jazmurian. I won't make love with people looking on. Unless, that is, we could persuade Captain Sarf to lend us his cabin."

Flattered and amused but also a little taken aback, Reith thought: My impetuous little darling was never one to wait demurely for others to take the initiative; whatever she wants, she goes straight for, hammer-and-tongs. He said:

"I doubt if he would, especially since you turned him down."

"Are you too embarrassed to ask? Well, I'm not!"

In fact, Reith was embarrassed. He said: "You're not afraid of anything, are you? Okay, I'll try to live up to my role as hero. I'll take a deep breath, suck in my guts, and ask. Come along!"

Reith halted in front of Sarf. "Captain, would you mind— that is—I wonder if we might borrow the use of your cabin for, say an hour while you're out here on deck?"

Sarf's olfactory antennae rose. "Wherefore would ye that? I like not strangers in my privy domain."

Reith reddened. "Well—ah—Doctor Dyckman and I have a matter to discuss in strict privacy, and that's the only private place on the ship."

"Ohé!" Sarf gave a coarse, gobbling laugh. "So ye be fain to jig on my pallet, eh? I offered the same regalement to the learned doctor, but she renied me."

Reith scowled. "I said, she and I have an important matter to discuss; nothing more."

"As if ye were but a pair of savants discussing the fat doctor's petrified bones? Ha! I've watched the pair of you, slobbering on each other in that uncouth Terran fashion."

Reith's emotions flared up from mere anger to homicidal fury. Holding himself in check, Reith grated: "If it's any affair of yours, Captain, Doctor Dyckman is my former wife, and ..."

He caught himself before blurting out that they might resume that relationship. He was not yet ready to commit himself. "Will you lend us your cabin or not?"

Captain Sarf drew a big puff on his cigar, took it from his mouth, and studied it. "I'll tell you. Ye may use my cabin wherein to futter your heads off—provided that the lady concedes me the same privilege there tonight."

Reith and Alicia exchanged glances, angry and appalled. Stiffly, Reith said: "Forget it, Captain. That would be quite against Terran custom. Come along, Lish; we haven't yet walked our kilometer."

Next morning, Reith and Alicia strolled about the deck, avoiding Qa'di and watching Marot patiently chipping away at his fossils. After the midday meal, the Morkerád put in at the village of Qantesr, larger than Kubyab, where a floating bridge spanned the Zigros. While the Morkerád tied up at the pier, the bridge tenders cranked away at the winches that hauled the string of supporting boats against the shore to allow the ship to pass.

Several Krishnans were gathered on the pier, together with a scattering of crates, bags, and jars. As the crew made the ship fast, Alicia said:

"Fergus, I'm going ashore for a while."

"What for?"

"I want to ask some questions of these folk, and I want to feel solid ground beneath my feet and breathe some clean air. This tub is pretty stinky, with the smell of the shaihans blowing over us day and night."

"How can you do any real research in the short time we'll be here?"

"Sarf said he'll be here most of the afternoon. They have to load a lot of stuff, and he has some deal on with one of those people on the pier."

"I don't think you should go," said Reith in his tour-guide voice.

"Why not?"

"I don't know how safe it'll be ashore. You know, Lish, you attract trouble the way honey does flies. You might have an accident, or run into some tough characters, and we'd never know what happened to you. So do stay aboard."

"No, I won't! I've decided to go."

"Oh", darling, do show some sense! We're still in Chilihagh, and the priests of Bákh are looking for us."

"Pfui! There's been no sign of a priest since we left Jeshang. Besides, there's a question about the Chilihagho inheritance law that I simply must ask while I can. I was an idiot not to think of it sooner."

"Ask Sarf."

"I did, and he doesn't know. I'm going!" she proclaimed.

"Don't be silly, darling! Do stay aboard, please! Bákh knows you've got enough data in those notebooks for a shelf of treatises."

"I tell you, I'm going, and that's that! As you said yourself, I'm an independent woman, free to go where I like."

"Then I'll come with you. Wait till I get my sword."

"No; I don't want you! You'd only be in the way."

Despite his efforts to control it, Reith's voice grew more dictatorial. "I'm responsible for you and Aristide, and I won't let you take foolish chances. We've been through enough already."

"You're not my husband any more, and it wouldn't matter if you were. I never signed a contract making you my expedition leader. I'll go where I wish, and if I get raped or murdered, that's my tough luck!"

She started for the gangway. Reith stepped in front of her, spreading his arms.

"Out of my way!" she cried.

"I won't let you!" shouted Reith.

"You can't stop me, you bossy bully!"

"Oh, yeah? I'll show you who—"

Alicia put both hands against Reith's chest and shoved. As she had said, she was stronger than her graceful build implied. The muscles in her slender limbs were hard; she had been a champion tennis player in her college days. Reith was thrown against the rail, which struck his buttocks. The momentum of his stagger over-balanced him, and his legs flew up. He executed a backflip and plunged into the water between the Morkerád and the pier.

"Man overboard!" bellowed Captain Sarf. "Ye there, Gamrok! Drop him a line!"

Marot appeared around the corner of the deckhouse in time to see Reith hauled out of the water. "Quel contretemps!" he exclaimed.

Alicia, standing on the gangboard, paused as Reith, dripping emerald slime, reached the level of the deck. She took a couple of steps and put out a hand to help him over the rail; but he ignored the proffered assistance.

"Fergus!" she said. "I'm sorry. I didn't intend—I mean—"

Reith coughed up some Zigros water. Retching and coughing, he rasped: "The hell ... you didn't!"

"Oh, be a bastard, then!" she snapped, and marched defiantly ashore.

"My friend," said Marot, "what can I do?"

"Get me a towel, will you, old boy?"

Knowing that these subtropical Krishnans had no nudity tabu, save where Terran missionaries had striven to implant one, Reith stripped and hung his dripping garments over the rail. Qa'di, drifting nigh, remarked on Reith's pubic hair. Since Krishnans lacked this anatomical feature, the sight of it often elicited comments from them.

Dried and dressed in his good Krishnan kilt, Reith found his anger cooling. No matter what Alicia said or did, he could not bear deliberately to hurt her, no matter how furious she made him from time to time. If only she would return to the boat before something untoward befell her!

Qa'di moved closer until only a few centimeters separated them. "I would not treat you thus ruthlessly," she murmured.

"Thanks. I'm sure you wouldn't."

"Belike I could soothe your wounded liver?" She cast a meaningful glance towards the deckhouse door.

"Your pardon, lady. I feel unwell today. But let's take time tomorrow to know each other better."

"Good! I shall be here."

For the next Krishnan hour, Reith paced the deck, watched cargo being stowed, and fidgeted. At last the ship's loading was nearly complete, and Alicia was still missing. Reith said to Marot:

"Aristide, that woman has got me buffaloed. Should I go ashore to look for her? If she's lost, we can't ask Sarf to hold his boat indefinitely. If I go ashore, I may get lost, too. It would serve Lish right if we sailed off without her; but I can't do that to a fellow Terran, let alone ..."

"I understand your feelings," replied the Frenchman. "I think that we must collect our belongings and place them at the end of the gangplank. If she has not returned when Sarf casts off, we shall have to go ashore, wait for her there, and throw ourselves on the mercy of the inhabitants. There may be places for travelers. Perhaps we can flag down the next east-bound riverboat."

"We're practically out of money," said Reith. 'To be stranded broke on Krishna is quite as serious as to be stranded penniless on Earth."

"Some paysans might put us up in return for gossip," said Marot, refusing to be discouraged. "Or we may be near enough to Jazmurian so that we can raise credit on the strength of your tessera. If none of these schemes works—how far is it to Jazmurian?"

Reith frowned. "At a guess, twenty to thirty kilometers."

"I am a little old and heavy for such a walk, but perhaps I could do it. Let us gather our things, no?"

A quarter-hour later, when Captain Sarf banged his gong to signal the ship's departure, Alicia came running from the woods, waving a sheaf of notepaper. She sped up the gangboard as the crew prepared to hoist it into the ship and threw a contemptuous glance at Reith and Marot.

"Ready to jump ship?" she said, eyeing their bundled gear. "Do you find my company so unbearable?"

Without awaiting an explanation, Alicia vanished into the deckhouse. When she reappeared, she ostentatiously ignored both Reith and Marot. She attached herself to Captain Sarf, standing beside him where he manned the tiller and remarking on his skill as the ship got under way.

At dinner, she preempted the seat next to the captain and continued to give him her exclusive attention, talking, joking, and laughing with all her charm. In that mood, thought Reith morosely, she could talk a bijar out of a tree.

When the Morkerád anchored on a sandbar for the night, Reith stood at the rail, drinking in the moonlight on the water and brooding on the mistakes he had made throughout his life. At last he retired to his deckhouse mattress. The other passengers and crew had already bedded down; as the last one in, it fell to Reith to pinch out the candle. Before he did so, he looked around for Alicia's blond head, but failed to find her among the recumbent bodies.

Disturbed and a little alarmed, Reith put out the candle, went out, and made the circuit of the deck. He peered along the narrow walkways between the sides of the deckhouse and the rail, and searched the broader deck between the after end of the deckhouse and the shaihan pen. As he came forward, voices told him that Alicia was in converse with the crewman on night duty. He caught the end of her question: "... which has the greater say in your affairs: your father's brother or your mother's brother?"

He found them sitting on the deck with their backs against the forward end of the deckhouse. The lantern in the bow shed a warm yellow light over the deck, and against the deckhouse Reith saw the red spark of the crewman's cigar.

"Seaman Gamrok," said Reith, "I never thanked you properly for pulling me out of the river."

" 'Twas nought. Anyway, I saw ye could swim."

"Fergus!" said Alicia, rising. "May I talk with you?"

"Sure, Alicia. Come along."

They strolled aft and stood with elbows on the rail. After a long silence, Reith said: "You gave me a turn not being in the deckhouse with the rest of us. I wondered if you'd decided to take Captain Sarf up on his offer."

"Oh! How could you imagine such a thing?"

"Well, you certainly gave him a pitch, from the time you got back from your safari."

"I was just trying to make you jealous, silly! And I'm sorry about this afternoon. I really wasn't trying to push you overboard."

"If you weren't, it sure was a marvelous imitation."

"I just wanted to get you out of the way and show you I was not to be dictated to."

"You're stronger than you look—all made of steel springs and rubber bands. I hate to think of what would happen to anybody who really vexed you."

"Oh, Fergus! I'm not a robot; I do have feelings, even if I have to act rough and tough to get by in this hard world."

"Yes?" said Reith, in a rising inflection implying doubt.

"Yes. This afternoon I planned to ask you to come ashore with me. I thought, when I'd finished asking my questions, we could find some grassy spot out of sight of the ship and make love. But you spoiled everything by bellowing orders in your drill-sergeant voice."

Reith had been through this sort of thing too often with Alicia to be easily mollified. He said: "Sorry; I guess I owe you an apology, too. I realize I've been trying to take care of you the way I do my tourists. That authoritarian tone is the only way I can keep the fools out of trouble. Well, there won't be any more of that. The next time you want to do something that's likely to get you assaulted or killed. Doctor Dyckman, feel free."

"You're still angry?"

"N-no, not exactly. You should know me better. I don't lose my temper so quickly as you; but when I do get angry, I don't get over it so quickly, either.

"Now let me tell you something, Alicia. I've said this before, but it doesn't seem to penetrate. Whatever you want in life—"

"I know what I want!" she interrupted, staring him defiantly in the eye.

"Whatever it is, you're certain to spoil your chances of getting it, either by your bull-headedness or by your violent temper. What you need is a good shrink."

Her eyes fell and her shoulders drooped. "I suppose you're right, but what can I do? We don't have a first-class shrink on Krishna. Marina Velskaya's a good general practitioner and knows a lot about Krishnan anatomy and diseases, but in psychiatry she's just an amateur. If I went back to Earth for treatment, I'd be gone twenty years of Krishna time, and meanwhile some other woman would grab you."

"Then I guess you'll have to manage on your own. But remember what I've said."

After another pause, she asked: "May—may I have just one little kiss?"

He gave her a brief, brotherly kiss. "Maybe you'd rather I went inside," she said in a slightly choked voice.

"Let's both go in." He opened the deckhouse door for her.