Fife said, "Even if you find out, what will you have? How reliable are any of the startling theories that sick Spatio-analysts are forever coming up with? Many of them think they know the secrets of the universe when they're so sick they can barely read their instruments."
"It may be that you are right. Are you afraid to let me find out?"
"I am against starting any morbid rumors that might, whether true or false, affect the kyrt trade. Don't you agree with me, Abel?"
Abel squirmed inwardly. Fife was maneuvering himself into the position where any break in kyrt deliveries resulting from his own coup could be blamed on Trantorian maneuvers. But Abel was a good gambler. He raised the stakes calmly and unemotionally.
He said, "I don't. I suggest you listen to Dr. Junz."
"Thanks," said Junz. "Now you have said, Squire Fife, that whoever the psycho-prober was, he must have killed the doctor who examined this man Rik. That implies that the psycho-prober had kept some sort of watch over Elk during his stay on Florina."
"Well?"
"There must be traces of that kind of watching."
"You mean you think these natives would know who was watching them."
"Why not?"
Fife said, "You are not a Sarkite and so you make mistakes. I assure you that natives keep their places. They don't approach Squires and if Squires approach them they know enough to keep their eyes on their toes. They would know nothing of being watched."
Junz quivered visibly with indignation. The Squires had their despotism so ingrained that they saw nothing wrong or shameful in speaking of it openly.
He said, "Ordinary natives perhaps. But we have a man here who is not an ordinary native. I think he has shown us rather thoroughly that he is not a properly respectful Florinian. So far he has contributed nothing to the discussion and it is time to ask him a few questions."
Fife said, "That native's evidence is worthless. In fact, I take the opportunity once more to demand that Trantor surrender him to proper trial by the courts of Sark."
"Let me speak to him first."
Abel put in mildly, "I think it will do no harm to ask him a few questions, Fife. If he proves unco-operative or unreliable, we may consider your request for extradition."
Terens, who, till now, had stolidly concentrated on the fingers of his clasped hands, looked up briefly.
Junz turned to Terens. He said, "Elk has been in your town since he was first found on Florina, hasn't he?"
"Yes."
"And you were in town all that time? I mean you weren't on any extended business trips, were you?"
"Townmen don't make business trips. Their business is in their town."
~l1 right. Now relax and don't get touchy. It would be part of your business to know about any Squire that might come to town, I imagine."
"Sure. When they come."
"Did they come?"
Terens shrugged. "Once or twice. Pure routine, I assure you. Squires don't dirty their hands with kyrt. Unprocessed kyrt, that is.
"Be respectful!" roared Fife.
Terens looked at him and said, "Can you make me?"
Abel interrupted smoothly, "Let's keep this between the man and Dr. Junz, Fife. You and I are spectators."
Junz felt a glow of pleasure at the Townman's insolence, but he said, "Answer my questions without side comments please, Townman. Now who exactly were the Squires who visited your town this past year?"
Terens said fiercely, "How can I know? I can't answer that question. Squires are Squires and natives are natives. I may be a Townman but I'm still a native to them. I don't greet them at the town gates and ask their names.
"I get a message, that's all. It's addressed 'Townman.' It says there'll be a Squire's Inspection on such-and-such a day and I'm to make the necessary arrangements. I must then see to it that the miliworkers have on their best clothes, that the mill is cleaned up and working properly, that the kyrt supply is ample, that everyone looks contented and pleased, that the houses have been cleaned and the streets policed, that some dancers are on hand in case the Squires would care to view some amusing native dance, that maybe a few pretty g-"
"Never mind that, Townman," said Junz.
"You never mind that. I do."
After his experiences with the Florinians of the Civil Service, Junz found the Townman as refreshing as a drink of cold water. He made up his mind that what influence the I.S.B. could bring to bear would be used to prevent any surrender of the Townman to the Squires.
Terens went on, in calmer tones, "Anyway, that's my part. When they come, I line up with the rest. I don't know who they are. I don't speak to them."
"Was there any such inspection the week before the City Doctor was killed? I suppose you know what week that happened."
"I think I heard about it in the newscasts. I don't think there was any Squire's Inspection at that time. I can't swear to it."
"Whom does your land belong to?"
Terens pulled the corners of his mouth back. "To the Squire of Fife."
Steen spoke up, breaking into the give-and-take with rather surprising suddenness. "Oh, look here. Really! You're playing into Fife's hands with this kind of questioning, Dr. Junz. Don't you see you won't get anywhere? Really! Do you suppose if Fife were interested in keeping tabs on that creature there that he would go to all the trouble of making trips to Florina to look at him? What are patrollers for? Really!"
Junz looked flustered. "In a case like this, with a world's economy and maybe its physical safety resting on the contents of one man's mind, it's natural that the psycho-prober would not care to leave the guardianship to patrollers."
Fife intervened. "Even after he had wiped out that mind, to all intents?"
Abel pushed out his lower lip and frowned. He saw his latest gamble sliding into Fife's hands with all the rest.
Junz tried again, hesitantly. "Was there any particular patroller or group of patrollers that was always underfoot?"
"I'd never know. They're just uniforms to me."
Junz turned to Valona with the effect of a sudden pounce. A moment before she had gone a sickly white and her eyes had become wide and stary. Junz had not missed that.
He said, "What about you, girl?"
But she only shook her head, wordlessly.
Abel thought heavily, There's nothing more to do. It's all over.
But Valona was on her feet, trembling. She said in a husky whisper, "I want to say something."
Junz said, "Go ahead, girl. What is it?"
Valona talked breathlessly and with fright obvious in every line of her countenance and every nervous twitch of her fingers.
She said, "I'm just a country girl. Please don't be angry with me.
It's just that it seems that things can only be one way. Was my
Elk so very important? I mean, the way you said?"
Junz said gently, "I think he was very, very important. I think he still is." -
"Then it must be like you said. Whoever it was who had put him on Florina wouldn't have dared take his eye away for even a minute hardly. Would he? I mean, suppose Rik was beaten by the mill superintendent or was stoned by the children or got sick and died. He wouldn't be left helpless in the fields, would he, where he might die before anyone found him? They wouldn't suppose that it would just be luck that would keep him safe." She was speaking with an intense fluency now.
"Go on," said Junz, watching her.
"Because there was one person who did watch Rik from the start. He found him in the fields, fixed it so I would take care of him, kept him out of trouble and knew about him every day. He even knew all about the doctor, because I told him. It was he! It was he!"
With her voice at screaming intensity, her finger pointed rigidly at Myrlyn Terens, Townman.
And this time even Fife's superhuman calm broke and his arms stiffened on his desk, lifting his massive body a full inch off his seat, as his head swiveled quickly toward the Townman.
18. The Victors